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Euro 2016 qualifier in doubt as 16 Luxembourg players get food poisoning

Luxembourg's foward David Turpel (C) celebrates after scoring a gall during the Euro 2016 group D qualifying football match between Macedonia and Luxembour
Image: David Turpel was on target for Luxembourg in a 3-2 defeat away to Macedonia earlier in the campaign.

Luxembourg’s European Qualifier away to Belarus has been thrown in to doubt after a bout of food poisoning swept through the visitors.

The Luxembourg FA reported on Monday that 16 of the 20 players in the squad had been taken ill after eating spaghetti bolognese in their team hotel in Minsk.

"Some of the coaching staff also have similar problems," Luxembourg's coach, Luc Holtz, said. "Luckily we brought two doctors to Belarus as one of them was out for the whole of Monday with food poisoning.

"The players felt sick all night and started to turn to the doctors at 4am."

Sky Sports News HQ has since been told by the Luxembourg FA that 14 of the players had reported an improvement in their condition overnight. Although the team are in discussions with UEFA, the match is expected to go ahead as planned.

Luxembourg head to Borisov Arena off the bottom of Group C after a surprise 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Macedonia on Saturday, their first victory since beating Northern Ireland two years' ago.

The two sides drew 1-1 when they met exactly 12 months ago, with Luxembourg heading to eastern Europe without a competitive away win in seven years. 

Also See:

Watch the goals as they go in via the Euro Goal Zone on Sky Sports News HQ, with full match coverage available on the Sky Sports iPad app. 

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