Mikel Arteta dealt fresh Arsenal injury blow as another star withdraws from international duty

Another Arsenal player has withdrawn from international duty this month.

Piero Hincapie has withdrawn from the Ecuador squad ahead of Tuesday night's clash against the Netherlands. The Arsenal defender featured in La Tri's draw to Morocco in the Spanish capital on Friday evening, and he was replaced by Pervis Estupiñán in the final quarter of an hour.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Hincapie will return to the United Kingdom, where he'll be assessed by medical staff at the Sobha Realty Training Centre. The 24-year-old has joined a long list of players to have been recalled from international duty by the Gunners this month.

Gabriel Magalhaes, William Saliba, Eberechi Eze, Leandro Trossard, and Jurrien Timber pulled out of their respective national team squads at the start of the week. Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka also returned to north London over the weekend as a precaution after, albeit very briefly, showing their faces at St. George's Park.

Nevertheless, Hincapie will be unavailable for selection when the Netherlands host Ecuador at the Philips Stadion on Tuesday night. Ecuador will hope to end the international on a high after conceding a late equaliser in the friendly to Morocco.

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John Yeboah fired La Tri into the lead shortly after the break before Neil El Aynaoui pulled one back in the final minutes. Speaking to reporters after the game, Sebastián Beccacece heaped praise on his side's performance at the Metropolitano.

As quoted by the Ecuador FA, the head coach said: "I am very proud of the team's work. The boys represent Ecuador. [These matches] serve to know and confirm that it is possible to compete with the powers and on the other hand to know that these details need to be corrected.

"I think they have seen an intense, aggressive, committed and brave team. It was exciting… there was a World Cup atmosphere… what I wanted most was to give a victory to the people for the effort they make to be here.

"I can't ignore the great sporting performance that Ecuador had today, because it would be unfair to the boys. It's sometimes hard to accept that a single detail on one night makes all the difference, but we have to keep learning from that."

Then, in an interview with Ecuadorian newspaper El Universo, Beccacece said: "You don’t see each other for five months, and then you have to see each other in two days and face the quality of players like [Achraf] Hakimi or Brahim [Diaz].

"It’s a team that functions excellently. There are always things to improve, but you can see every day how this team is progressing. Progress requires dealing with different situations, as was the case today with the wonderful thing we did for a large part of the game."

The Ecuador boss added: "I can’t ignore the great collective performance Ecuador had today because it would be unfair to the boys.

"It’s hard for me to accept that one small detail can spoil a great night, but that’s football. We have to keep learning from that. I’m very proud of how these boys represent Ecuador."

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