Januzaj responds to De Bruyne’s crunching training tackle

Matt Stead

Adnan Januzaj has absolved Kevin de Bruyne of any blame after his crunching tackle in training.

Januzaj was left in a heap after De Bruyne collided with the former Manchester United winger in training for Belgium’s World Cup campaign.

De Bruyne did not even cast a glance at his fallen teammate after the tackle, leading many to question the situation.

But Januzaj says the Manchester City midfielder “just wanted to take the ball away”.

“That did not bother me at all, because that’s part of the intensity of a training session,” he said.

“You should not find out anything about that. That’s part of the intensity of training, no more than normal.

“I’m just a dribbler and Kevin just wanted to take the ball away and after his tackle I wanted to recapture the ball as quickly as possible, we’re here at a World Cup and then the intensity is just very high.”