Tottenham's Bentancur conscious after freak injury, says Postecoglou

London: Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur was conscious and under observation in hospital after suffering a freak injury early on in his side's League Cup semi-final first-leg victory over Liverpool on Wednesday.

The Uruguayan attempted to get his head on a corner early on but appeared to twist awkwardly and hit the ground in obvious distress. After nearly 10 minutes of treatment on the pitch he was taken off the field on a stretcher.

"I don't want to speculate because I don't really know either," Postecoglou told reporters when asked what exactly Bentancur had done. "All I know is he was conscious when he came off. Obviously it was some sort of head injury, but he was conscious when he was coming off the field.

"And he's been taken to the hospital for observation. But I'm not really clear on how it happened. Unless I get a doctor out here, I'm not going to speculate because it's just not fair on people around him.

"But it was a head injury. And there was concern from players out there so obviously there was something going on."

Bentancur recently returned from a seven-match domestic ban after making inappropriate remarks about Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min during a TV interview in Uruguay.