Sead Kolasinac picked up an injury in a World Cup qualifier with Bosnia & Herzegovina after a terrible challenge leading to a red card.

Arsenal’s Sead Kolasinac started for Bosnia & Herzegovina on Saturday, with his country desperately in need of a win against Finland to keep their World Cup qualification hopes alive.

Those qualification hopes were dealt a major blow in the first half, as Finland took the lead before injuring Kolasinac.

Jukka Raitala came flying in and caught Kolasinac badly on the ankle when the ball was gone. Kolasinac had to come off, and Raitala was sent off.

The Bosnia left-back seemed particularly frustrated as he left the field of play.

That’s not surprising, as rather bizarrely, this isn’t even the first time this has happened this season.

Kolasinac also limped off the pitch after being on the end of a red-card challenge from France’s Jules Kounde in September.

Fortunately, the Arsenal defender was alright on that occasion, returning to action less than a week later.

We can hope Kolasinac is just as lucky this time around, but it’s a real shame he might end up with a more serious injury from another reckless challenge.

There was just no need for Raitala to go flying in, particularly with his team already winning the game.

Just to compound Kolasinac’s misery, Bosnia & Herzegovina couldn’t make a comeback against 10 men, and they ended up losing the match 3-1.

Now four points behind the World Cup qualification play-off place with just one game to go, their hopes of making next year’s tournament are over.