Newcastle United skipper Fabricio Coloccini is confident he will be ready to play in their Premier League opener against Tottenham Hotspur.
Newcastle defender not worried about hamstring
Newcastle United skipper Fabricio Coloccini is confident he will be ready to play in their Premier League opener against Tottenham Hotspur.
The defender must travel to Frankfurt this week for Argentina's friendly against Germany and there are concerns about the condition of his hamstring.
Coloccini was withdrawn at half-time on Saturday as the Magpies slipped to a heavy 4-1 defeat against Cardiff, having convinced Alan Pardew not to take him off earlier in the game.
And the 30-year-old insists he will be fine, telling the
Evening Chronicle: "It is OK. I just felt tight, it was nothing.
"I wanted to play on before I wanted to work against another team."
Asked if he felt he would be ready for the opener with Spurs, he said: "Yes."
The 30-year-old confirmed there was no chance of him pulling out of the Argentina squad, saying: "Yes, I will go. I am pleased to play for my country."
Mistakes
Whilst upbeat about his fitness, Coloccini was not so positive about Newcastle's performance in the friendly against Cardiff and admitted he felt sorry for the supporters.
He said: "The fans are always class. No matter how we play they cheer us. But we have to apologise to them for this. I am sure they will be back at our stadium in great numbers.
"They understand that it was a friendly.
"Now, like the fans, we are looking forward to Tottenham.
"We have to recover from it. But we will have games like this. We will look at the mistakes and do better next time."
