Both laughter and pain. 7 most ridiculous injuries of soccer players

Injuries in soccer can be mild, moderate, severe and horrific. Getting them is always unpleasant, and recovery can take from a couple of days to several years. However, there are some that you can’t help but smile when you read about: how ridiculous they are sometimes. A walk in the park with the dog, the birth of his beloved wife, a victory celebration, a dispute with the management – these and other surprising circumstances that led to injuries, in our selection of the most ridiculous injuries of footballers.

Darren Bernard

Darren Bernard

Cause of injury: a puppythat wasn’t toilet trained

How do you get injured in your kitchen without a knife in your hand, a frying pan flying at your foot, or sitting on a hot stove? Darren Bernard knows the answer. The Barnsley midfielder is out for five months after slipping on a puddle left behind by a puppy who had just taken up residence. Darren just hadn’t had time to potty train his new pet yet and went to the hospital instead of the soccer field.

Allan Nielsen

Allan Nielsen (below) and Chris Armstrong

Cause of injury: a newborn daughter.

1996 was a very memorable year for Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Allan Nielsen for two reasons: firstly, he won the award “Best Footballer in Denmark”, and secondly, he managed to get injured not in a hard tackle in the center of the field, but from his newborn daughter. When the young father arrived at the maternity hospital to see his baby girl for the first time, he leaned over to the crib and got a blow in the eye. As a result, the Dane had to miss the next few games.

Kirk Broadfoot

Kirk Broadfoot

Cause of injury: passion for experimentation

What happens when you heat two eggs in the microwave? If you’ve never asked yourself that question, you’re not Kirk Broadfoot. In 2009, the soccer world learned about the unconventional culinary preferences of the Scottish Rangers defender. Kirk put eggs in the microwave and watched them through the door. One of them exploded and burned the soccer player’s cheek. In fact, Broadfoot, at the cost of his health, did a good deed for all of us – now you’ll never repeat it at home.

The cause of the injury: over-exuberant celebration

After the League Cup final in 1993, Arsenal’s Steve Morrow celebrated the victory over Sheffield United by climbing onto the shoulders of teammate Tony Adams. Steve scored the winning goal, which was also his first in the jersey of the London team. The hero felt on top, but an accidental fall from the back of Adams spoiled the impression of triumph. Morrow was diagnosed with a fractured arm. Because of this curious injury, he missed the rest of the season (including his team’s FA Cup victory over the same Sheffield United).

Carlo Cudicini

Carlo Cudicini

Cause of injury: walking with a dog

Once again the “friend of man” is to blame. The dog for the second time in our selection becomes an insurmountable obstacle to the career of a footballer. Carlo Cudicini suffered from his pet when walking with him in a park in London. The dog of the former Chelsea goalkeeper sharply rushed forward, smelling something interesting, and strongly pulled the leash. Cudicini could not stay on his feet and fell to the ground. And all would be nothing, but in the fall Carlo received a serious knee injury. For recovery required surgery. Of course, the Italian didn’t love his pet less, but for sure he remembered that walk for a long time and began to hold the leash tighter.

Jari Litmanen

Jari Litmanen

Cause of injury: soda bottle

Jari Litmanen is a true legend of Finnish soccer, one of the brightest players of the XX century, the record holder of the national team in the number of official matches and, unfortunately, a very injury-prone player. Finn managed to play for such giants of European soccer as Ajax, Liverpool and Barcelona. Failures haunted Jari in each club. For example, after moving to Barcelona, he suffered an ankle injury already at his presentation.

One of Litmanen’s injuries is particularly notable. Famous mentor Roy Hodgson said that when he coached Malmö, for which Jari played, the Finnish footballer argued with the sports director of the club, whether he could open a bottle of soda with his eye. It is not known how humorous the argument was, but the Finn took it quite seriously. As a result – damage to the cornea of the eye, hospital and two weeks without soccer.

Roy Carroll

Roy Carroll was injured

Cause of injury: Tangled in the net.

Many of us have had to pull a ball out of the goal when playing soccer in the backyard. Some of us kick it, trying to push it out by force, and some of us carefully pull it out with our hands. But sometimes a foot can get stuck in the net. Then you have to balance on the other foot, lean over to the stuck foot and take it out yourself. Just such an embarrassment happened to Northern Ireland goalkeeper Roy Carroll. Once, when the goalkeeper took the balls out of the net after training, his foot got stuck. Roy lost his balance, fell to the lawn and hurt his knee. They would have laughed at him in the yard, but Roy’s coaching staff was no laughing matter.