Portugal’s Bruno Fernandes, Liverpool’s Cody Gakpo and Manchester United’s Patrick Dorgu have all joined the international break’s high-profile injury list, after issues that curtailed their involvement in Nations League matches.
Fernandes, the Manchester United captain, played in Portugal’s win over Wales on Thursday but was left out of the squad for Sunday’s fixture against Norway. Before the match, Portugal boss Jorge Jesus said Fernandes had “played through the pain” against Wales and “wasn’t his usual self”. Jesus added: “He played with an injury he brought from Manchester United. He really wanted to play against Wales.”
Gakpo’s problem came during the Netherlands’ 2-1 win over Serbia on Sunday, when the Liverpool striker had to come off after just 16 minutes, grimacing and holding the lower part of his right leg. The setback interrupts a strong start to the season for the forward, who has scored two goals and provided four assists in six appearances across all competitions for Liverpool.
Dorgu, Fernandes’ team-mate at Old Trafford, was also withdrawn early on Sunday. He lasted 30 minutes before limping off during Denmark’s 2-0 win against Wales.
Gakpo’s injury adds to Liverpool’s concerns, coming after Alexander Isak withdrew from Sweden duty with a minor thigh injury. Isak had played the full 90 minutes and scored in Sweden’s 2-1 win over Romania in the Nations League on Friday, but will not be involved in his country’s remaining three matches in this international break, instead returning to be assessed by his club’s medical staff.
This first international break of the 2026-27 men’s season is lasting a week longer than usual, with the traditional October break now scrapped. That leaves a three-week window for international fixtures across late September and early October, during which countries will play four matches instead of two.
The casualty list extends well beyond Sunday’s games. On Thursday, Arsenal forward Kai Havertz and Sunderland’s Brian Brobbey both went off injured in the same match, as the Netherlands drew with Germany. Havertz was caught on the knee by a high boot from Quinten Timber in Amsterdam and had to be replaced, while Brobbey — fresh from a hat-trick in Sunderland’s 5-3 Premier League defeat by Manchester City — then appeared to suffer a muscle injury.
Sunderland suffered a further blow on this international break when Dan Ballard picked up a hamstring injury late in Northern Ireland’s 1-0 win over Georgia on Friday. Boss Michael O’Neill has confirmed the injury will rule him out of the national team’s remaining fixtures in this break.
Some of the biggest names in the game have also been affected. Real Madrid striker Kylian Mbappe has been ruled out for at least two weeks after injuring his knee while scoring the winner in Zinedine Zidane’s first game in charge of France. Mbappe scored a record-extending 67th goal from a Michael Olise pass to sink Turkey, but he was limping immediately and had to be replaced five minutes later. Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala, meanwhile, suffered a muscle injury during the warm-up for the game against the Netherlands and had to withdraw.