Premier League star stretchered off in tears with another heartbreaking injury during international duties

Broja started on the bench for Albania against the Three Lions and was only introduced into the game in the 75th minute. Unfortunately, the striker's participation was short-lived as after 10 minutes he went down on the ground following a painful injury to his leg. The player was visibly in pain as he broke down in tears, while being stretchered off the pitch.

Broja has a history of knee problems, including an anterior cruciate ligament injury in 2023, which kept him out of action for the majority of the season, while still being a Chelsea player. With the injury setback, he became the latest Premier League star to suffer a knock while on international duty. 

Sunday's encounter against Albania was of little importance to Thomas Tuchel's side as they had already booked their World Cup place. However, with the 2-0 victory, courtesy of a brace from Harry Kane, England ended their qualifying journey with eight wins in as many matches. They are also the first team to survive the entire qualifying stage without conceding a single goal. 

With the brace against Albania, Kane took his tally of international goals to 78 as he surpassed Brazil legend Pele. After the game, the Three Lions captain sent out a strong message as he told ITV Sport: "I think it's as good as we've ever had, I think when you look at starting 11, you look at the players coming off the bench, we're going to go into the tournament as one of the favourites, we have to accept that, we've been like that now for the last few tournaments and that's part and parcel of it so we've been building, we've had a great year together with the new coach and now we look forward to obviously a big 2026."

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Premier League leader Arsenal's star defender Gabriel was forced off the ground with an apparent groin issue while playing for Brazil in an international friendly against Senegal last week. The centre-back was playing on home soil at the Emirates Stadium, and in the second half, he went down in some discomfort and was subsequently taken off, looking furious. 

Selecao boss Carlo Ancelotti even apologised for the Gunners star's injury as he told the media: "Bad? I don't know, he had a problem on his adductor the medical staff have to check tomorrow. We are really sorry for this, really disappointed. When players have an injury, I hope they can recover well and soon."

Napoli have also dealt with an injury blow during the international break as their in-form midfielder Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa picked up a hamstring injury during a training session with Cameroon ahead of their World Cup qualifiers. 

Club president Aurelio De Laurentiis later lashed out at FIFA and UEFA over the number of players picking up injuries on international duty, as he told Motore Italia: "I loaned Rrahmani, and he came back in a wreck, Anguissa came back in a wreck. We can't go on like this. When the championships are on, I have to get to the end without interruptions. We need fewer teams, fewer matches. 

"Players earn a salary from their clubs, and clubs should be able to decide whether or not to send them to their national teams. If a player gets injured on international duty, a transfer window should be reopened and we should be compensated. But it seems FIFA and UEFA don't care about national leagues."