Kevin Danso breaks silence after leaving Tottenham opponent with gruesome injury

Kevin Danso has publicly apologised to Lucas Digne after leaving the Aston Villa defender with a gruesome injury during Tottenham's 2-1 defeat on Sunday.

Danso, who stepped in to replace Cristian Romero after the Spurs captain picked up an injury in the warm-up, caught Digne with a strong challenge in north London. Referee Simon Hooper didn't punish the Spurs centre-back despite Villa protests and Digne was seen visibly furious with the challenge on the pitch.

The Frenchman was then seen making his anger clear in the dugout and later posted a picture of his gruesome ankle injury on social media. He captioned his post: "No pain, no gain."

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Danso took part in media duties on Tuesday night ahead of Tottenham's Champions League clash with Monaco. The defender was asked about the incident and has apologised to his opponent.

He said: "I saw the picture of his ankle, I didn't get the chance after the game but I apologised to him on the pitch and I would like to apologise to him publicly also, there was no malice in it. My intention is never to injure somebody."

Danso will now focus on Spurs' crunch clash with Monaco in the Champions League. The defender is expected to feature again following Romero's injury blow.

The Spurs skipper and Destiny Udogie sat out Tottenham training ahead of Wednesday’s fixture at Monaco in the Champions League.

Romero pulled out in the warm-up of Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Aston Villa with an adductor issue, while Udogie reported minor irritation in his knee after international duty.

Boss Thomas Frank was unable to confirm if Romero would recover in time to face Monaco after the defeat to Villa, but after the Argentinian missed training on Tuesday morning, he looks set to miss the trip to Stade Louis II.

Versatile defender Ben Davies was also absent from the session and it means Spurs could be without 10 players on Wednesday night.

Tottenham were already without Radu Dragusin, Yves Bissouma, James Maddison, Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke due to injuries, but Kota Takai and Mathys Tel are unavailable after not being included in the club’s Champions League squad.

Meanwhile Spurs have announced the appointment of Dan Lewindon as the club’s new performance director.