Arsenal and Croatia fans - think Larsson and Cisse not Busst and Nilis.
The sight of Eduardo da Silva’s foot dangling at right angles to his leg was the overshadowing image of a weekend of English football where Tottenham Hotspur won the League Cup and Manchester United crushed Newcastle 5-1 away.
The injury will rule the Croatian out of the remainder of the English season and Euro 2008 while there are doubts about whether the striker, who will attempt to celebrate his 25th birthday on Monday, will ever playing again.
A heated Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger demanded after the game that Birmingham City defender Martin Taylor be banned for life for his mistimed tackle:
“The guy should never play again. People will always use the excuse that the guy is not a dirty player and that he did not mean it. It is like a guy who kills one time in his life. You still have a dead person.”
However, Wenger later issued a statement saying his initial comments about Taylor had been “excessive” as he tried to defuse the situation.
The English press compared the injury to previous gruesome leg-breaks which ended the careers of Coventry City defender David Busst, Belgian striker Luc Nilis and Chelsea’s Italian midfielder Roberto Di Matteo.
As Croatia and Arsenal fans pray the Brazilian-born striker does not become another name on that unfortunate list, they should take heart from two other strikers who overcame similar injuries to compete in Champions League finals.
Henrik Larsson suffered a double fracture of his left leg whilst playing for Celtic in their UEFA Cup clash with Olympique Lyon in October 1999. However Larsson returned to action and went on to play for European giants Barcelona and Manchester United.
The Swede came on as a second-half substitute with the Spanish side losing 1-0 in the Champions League final against Arsenal in 2006 and two assists inspired a 2-1 victory.
When playing for Liverpool in October 2004, French striker Djibril Cisse fractured his left tibia and fibula.
The prognosis was that he would miss the rest of the season, but incredibly he battled back to fitness, making his return in the Champions League quarter-final against Juventus six months later. He went on to score a penalty in the dramatic shootout victory in the final against AC Milan.
Let’s all hope that Eduardo can replicate them and not Busst, Di Matteo and Nilis.
Patrick Johnston, London
As an aside, we decided not to display the most gruesome picture (even though it is not very gruesome). Sky also opted not to show the replay after the incident but other news organisations have analysed the pictures in detail. Who is right? PHOTO: REUTERS/Darren Staples
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13 comments so far
there is an inbetween too. Alan Smith broke his leg badly at Man Utd and although he returned to action, he has never been the same since and is now struggling to impose himself at Newcastle.
- Posted by Mark MeadowsYou should show the picture. So the picture will serve as a grim reminder to these professional footballers to not be too reckless in their tackles.
- Posted by Five TimesI don’t think Arsenal fans need worry too much. Eduardo is still young and will be determined to fight his way back to fitness. David Busst, Luc Nilis, and Roberto Di Matteo were all in/approaching the tail end of their careers when they received their horrific leg breaks.
- Posted by John KeightleyPatrick makes a good point in reference to Larrson, but maybe the mental block of going in for a tackle will be too much for the lad. He can hardly take a tackle as it is. Henrik got kicked and fouled continuously during his time in the SPL. Hopefully he makes a return but maybe as a completely different player?
- Posted by Laurence ConnellyWhat Laurence says about the ‘mental block’ is an interesting point. Eduardo should perhaps talk to Petr Cech about returning from such a cruel injury that will no doubt weigh heavily on his mind when he returns to action. However, Cech says he didn’t remember his injury, whereas Eduardo says he does. So maybe he should speak to Cissé or Larsson. Good luck to him.
- Posted by Tom PilcherCisse then went on to break his other leg in an international against China and came back a few months later.. However, i don’t recall any doctors saying that there would have been the possibility of amputation for any of these other injuries
- Posted by clementTake that back, didn’t realize that Cisse would have lost his leg also. Was Busst’s injury career ending because of the break or because it became infected?
- Posted by clementYou are right Clement, Busst’s leg became infected during one of the 20 operations he had on his leg following the injury, 10 of which were in the first 12 days. Maybe someone should right a blog about the cleanliness of hospitals in Britain
- Posted by Patrickeven though i dont support arsenal(manchester united)i think eduado will recover from his hurendose injury because he has his fans behind him and his team mates right behind him to pull through
- Posted by hope outenI don’t want to see the pictures, but Five Time is right to call that tackle reckless.
One can understand the why Taylor wanted to “prove himself” in a big match as captain and leader of what was always going to be a defence under pressure. However, he lost sight of the margins that define decency in the game.
I’m sure that is also the basis of Arsene Wenger’s initial comment, and my respect for the man is increased by his later retraction. I am sure that Taylor would wish to have that tackle retracted as easily.
Although he might not have wanted to hurt anyone it is impossible to adequately compensate for his actions. Players have to be aware of their responsibilities, including those they should show toward fellow professionals and not get carried away by the occasion.
- Posted by Mike WhalleyI am not Arsenal fan but after i heard about Eduardo i was shocked. All the Arsenal fans are behind Eduardo we all hope he has a quick recovery and play some great football again.
- Posted by TahirIt is truly unfortunate for eduardo,but the reality is that physics knows no allegiance to team or city or person. One nanosecond sooner or later could haave produced a lesser or no injury at all. This is the risk of playing the beautiful game injury is at your doorstep alot of the time,every game survived without injury is as much luck as skill. No shortage of skill on either players part so I’d chalk it up to luck.Sorry again for eduardo,hes young orthopedic surgery has come a long way, at this point its up to his body and therapists.
- Posted by DennisI have no doubt that Taylor wasn’t trying to break his leg - he was however going in hard to make Eduardo uneasy, to let him know what sort of match it was going to be. Its a tactic that pretty much all professional footballers have used - that however doesn’t make it any better. No matter what the outcome of that tackle, he was always going to go straight through Eduardo from the front - even if he’d got the ball, it could never have ended there. The tackle was horrific, the results were worse.
Anyway, get well soon Eduardo.
- Posted by Simon