A FORMER Arsenal physio has opened up on the stomach-churning moment he saw the full extent of Eduardo’s infamous injury.
Gary Lewin was head physio with the Gunners for 22 years and was on duty when they played Birmingham in February 2008.
Former Arsenal physio Lewin has spoken of seeing the full extent of Eduardo’s infamous leg break
The former Gunners striker’s injury was a real shocker that stuck with Lewin for the rest of his lifeCredit: PA:Press Association
His life was changed for ever just three minutes into the clash when called onto the field to deal with the club’s former forward.
Eduardo had gone down under a shocking challenge from former Blues star Martin Taylor – who was shown a straight red.
Cesc Fabregas was first to recoil in horror when the magnitude of the injury became clear.
And now Lewin has explained in more detail to The Athletic about the moment he saw bone sticking out of sock.
He said: “I’ll never forget it. It’s probably the worst injury I’ve ever seen and when you see something that bad it really sticks in your memory.
“When I went on the pitch I noticed his ankle was dislocated and in the wrong shape. I also saw the bone sticking out of his sock so I knew it was an open fracture.
Eduardo was never the same after his career-threatening injuryCredit: PA:Press Association
Taylor was shown a straight red card for his awful challengeCredit: PA:Press Association
“Eduardo was in a lot of distress so the first I did was get hold of the ankle to make sure he couldn’t move it.
“With foreign players they always go back to their native tongue, so because he spoke Portuguese I got Cesc Fabregas to talk to him as Spanish and Portuguese are very similar.
“That way I could communicate to him what we were doing and get some information back about what he was feeling. The most important thing was to try and calm Eduardo down. We managed to immobilise the ankle and get him off the pitch. He was having surgery within hours.
“He actually went to Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham. That is where the military went to treat the injuries they suffered in Afghanistan.
“The surgeon there was very good and he was on duty that day and he saw that sort of thing day in, day out.”
Brazilian-born Eduardo was never the same after the incident.
He returned to action just shy of a year later and scored two against Cardiff in the FA Cup but netted only six more after that.
He eventually left for Shakhtar Donetsk before playing for Flamengo, Athletico Paranaese and Legia Warsaw.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
