Athletic Bilbao: Nico Williams to undergo treatment
Nico Williams sidelined for weeks
Athletic Bilbao: Nico Williams to undergo treatment
Things aren’t looking good for Nico Williams at Athletic Bilbao. The young Spanish winger will be out of action for several days.
Still struggling with a groin injury that has plagued him since last season, Nico Williams can’t seem to shake it off. The young talent had to withdraw from the squad for last Sunday’s trip to Oviedo. "We can’t go on like this," admitted head coach Ernesto Valverde, frustrated by his player’s recurring absences. As a result, the Basque club and the Spanish international have made a decisive call.
According to Marca, Nico Williams has followed the advice of an external doctor and will undergo treatment that will keep him off the pitch for an unspecified period. The outlet suggests he’ll be out for at least a month. Nico Williams is still hoping to avoid surgery and missing out on the 2026 World Cup.
Braga frustrated after Ibrox defeat but says title pressure not on Hearts
Claudio Braga admits to being "frustrated by Hearts' defeat to Rangers but says his side are still in pole position in the Premiership and need to keep going.
Hearts led twice at Ibrox on Sunday before falling to a 4-2 defeat that saw both Rangers and Celtic narrow the gap at the top of the table.
Braga, who scored his side's second goal, lamented the defending that cost his side at least a point but is targeting a response when Falkirk visit Tynecastle on Sunday.
"It's frustrating, of course. In the first half, I think we were better.
"We let them control the game and we went on the counter-attack. We were doing a good job on that. Then we lost two cheap goals.
"In the second half, we know that we could do better – also the goals against us. If we did things a little bit different, like one less pass, we would do better.
"It's frustrating but we're still in first place and there are still a lot of games to go. We have a home game now, so we just need to go for that."
Though Hearts have been league leaders for a long stretch of the season, Braga denied there was any extra pressure on the team as they go into the title-run-in, pointing out that it has been decades since a side outside of Glasgow lifted the league trophy.
"No, I don't feel we have that pressure just because it's 40 years now, right? So we're doing something amazing.
"We're proud of the work we're doing. Of course, the more (points) we can get, the better. But the pressure, I think, is normally on the teams that win the league.
"So we have, of course, a good pressure. We just need to enjoy it as much as we can, trying to go to games with a good mentality and win games."
