Blackburn striker injured by team-mate!

Goodness me, these friendly internationals are littered with pitfalls for club managers. They pack their players off, telling them to stay free from injury, alcohol and women, only to see them return looking doubtful for the weekend fixture.

Blackburn manager Mark Hughes must be scratching his head in disbelief after discovering that start striker Roque Santa Cruz could miss Saturday’s game against Reading. Especially with Sky Sports reporting that it came at the hands of his club team-mate - doh!

Santa Cruz was forced to leave the field in the first half of Paraguay’s 3-0 friendly defeat to South Africa on Wednesday.

He picked up the problem following a tackle from Rovers team-mate Aaron Mokoena, and now faces a fight to be fit for the weekend.

While it’s nowhere near as bad as a training ground scuffle in a John Hartson - Eyal Berkovic stylee, it will be interesting to hear Sparky’s thoughts on this ‘coming together’. If anything, players are more likely to throw themselves into the challenge even more against a club team-mate, with Wayne Rooney telling Patrice Evra he was going to crunch him last night!

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