Palace coach disciplines Christantus by dropping him for returning late from international duty

SUPER Eagles playmaker Uche Christantus appears to have faced disciplinary action at his club Crystal Palace after returning late from international duty last week with him being dropped for the weekend's league game.

On Saturday, Christantus was a notable absentee in Palace's match day squad for their game against Bournemouth at Selhurst Park. He  was with Nigeria for the international break last week, as he got a late call-up to replace the injured Cyriel Dessers but did not play in the two World Cup qualifiers against Lesotho and Benin, so could not have returned to London injured.

Club football resumed over the weekend and most of the Super Eagles stars who were involved with Nigeria returned to their clubs and most of them played. Christantus, however, was dropped from the match day squad, which was surprising, as up until now, he had always made it on to the Palace bench.

According to a report from We Are Palace, team coach Oliver Glasner excluded Christantus from the match day squad against Bournemouth because he arrived late from the international break. However, the particular day Christantus  returned to action has not been confirmed and it is also unclear whether Glasner's decision was a punishment or not.

Nonetheless, it might not be a big issue, as Mr Glasner did not about it during his pre-match or post-match press conferences, so, Uche will likely return to action for the club soon. Christantus, 22, has not started any game for the Eagles since joining from Getafe in the summer but he will be hoping to get some game time soon.