Mitrovic injury forces rethink for Rafa

ALEXSANDAR MITROVIC was given oxygen and taken to hospital after the Newcastle striker suffered a serious cut to his leg during their FA Cup draw at Birmingham.

With promotion the target for Newcastle, the injury could force Rafa Benitez to change his transfer priorities.

‘It was a cut,’ Benitez said. ‘We have to wait. He went to hospital. It depends on what the doctor says. It was obviously not very good because straight away we had to make a substitution. We will see [how long he is out].’

With Newcastle owner Mike Ashley watching from the stands, Lukas Jutkiewicz cancelled out Daryl Murphy’s opener and while Zola is still looking for his first win as Birmingham manager he says he saw signs of improvement.

‘It is now a month we have been working and the players are starting to understand more what we are trying to do,’ Zola said. ‘I saw the stats. We had more possession, more shots, we looked more dangerous than they were. You have to consider you are not playing a normal team, you are playing Newcastle.’

Zola won the FA Cup twice as a Chelsea player, while Benitez won it once as Liverpool manager. The world’s oldest cup competition is not a priority, though, and their selections told us that: Five changes for Birmingham, eight for Newcastle. Magic of the FA Cup? Not quite.

Newcastle’s fans didn’t get the memo about the FA Cup. Almost 5,000 of them travelled t and they were rewarded with a goal after only five minutes.

Murphy hammered the ball home in a goalmouth scramble but the celebrations were short-lived as the attention turned to Mitrovic.

Amid the melee, Mitrovic, who was making his first start for Newcastle since November, was injured. He had to be carried off on a stretcher while wearing an oxygen mask.

Birmingham levelled after wonderful work by Jonathan Grounds on the left wing led to a cross and Jutkiewicz hit the ball into the back of the net.