Manchester United star Rasmus Hojlund only played the final 12 minutes of Denmark’s 1-0 defeat to Spain.
Rasmus Hojlund missed the start of the season with a hamstring injury, but made his return in September in the 0-0 draw with Crystal Palace.
Since that return, he has made five consecutive appearances for the Red Devils, including starts against Porto and Aston Villa in a week where Erik ten Hag was under immense pressure.
Hojlund scored against Porto during an opening 20-minute spell where United looked dominant and in control of the tie, but he is yet to add to his goal tally.
Ten Hag has been delighted with Hojlund’s return from injury with the Dutchman praising the 21-year-old for working “so hard to come back”.
Rasmus Hojlund benched for Denmark vs Spain
Hojlund returned to fitness just in time to join the list of United players called up for international duty in October.
The international break came at a good time for the young Dane to build up more match rhythm and fitness ahead of the Premier League’s return later this month.
However, Denmark faced Spain in the Nations League on Saturday evening and Hojlund was named on the bench by manager Lars Knudsen.
It was described as a “surprising” decision by Danish outlet Bold, who added that Knudsen had declared Hojlund “completely fit” before the match.
Knudsen opted to start Anderlecht forward Kasper Dolberg up front instead, with Hojlund forced to wait until the 78th minute before coming on as a substitute.
Denmark ended up losing 1-0 to the European champions and had just one shot on target. Hojlund’s United teammate Christian Eriksen started and shined against Spain.
Denmark boss explains Rasmus Hojlund decision
Knudsen certainly raised eyebrows by choosing not to start Hojlund despite his return to fitness.
He has now explained his decision, and insisted that he will have to fight for a starting spot because of the competition up front.
As quoted by Tipsbladet, Knudsen said: “First of all, there is a striker situation where there is real competition. Kasper is doing well in Anderlecht, Jonas is doing well in Wolfsburg, Yussuf played a fantastic match against Serbia, and now Rasmus is back as we know him, and he is skilled.
“So there is a sharp competitive situation right now. Today we chose to play with Kasper, we believed he could give us something, and I think he did that in the first half.
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“I think he [Dolberg] was important for us, in terms of keeping the game going and moving the game up. He was involved in some of the things where we could have created some goals maybe, one or two. So I think we hit it all right.”
Knudsen’s comments suggest that Hojlund is at risk of losing his starting spot for Denmark if his form drops. It could be exactly what he needed to hear to return to form.
Hojlund will have another chance to reclaim his spot when Denmark face Switzerland on Tuesday, October 15.
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