Injuries that ruined the best moment of their soccer careers

Listen this article

The Colombian midfielder Juan Fernando Quintero is the last one to join the list of injured players when they were supposed to reach their professional zenith

River Plate faced Independiente de Avellaneda in the Supeliga Argentina. At the end of the first half, Juan Fernando Quintero stepped badly and began to feel a discomfort in his left knee. Despite this, he decided to continue on the field, but at 13 minutes of the complementary stage he could no longer continue, as can be seen in a step-by-step video published by Fox Sports.

Leer en español: Lesiones que dañaron el mejor momento de sus carreras futbolísticas

Hours later, after being subjected to an MRI, the worst was confirmed: JuanFer had suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear, which automatically removes him from the field for at least six months.

The news comes in one of the best moments of Quintero's career. He was a starter for Marcelo Gallardo and had earned the respect of  River's fans, especially after that goal he scored in the Santiago Bernabéu stadium and that meant the title of the Libertadores for those of the 'Banda Cruzada'. Moreover, he was one of Carlos Queiroz's fixtures for the Colombia National Team in the upcoming Copa America.

The news impacted so much in the world of soccer that even a Boca Juniors player and its coach, Gustavo Alfaro, sent him words of encouragement. That was the case of Ramón 'Wanchope' Ábila who, in statements reproduced by Deportes RCN, expressed that Quintero's injury gave him a lot of "sadness and discomfort." He also said that "I hope he returns in the best way and continues to play soccer as he knows how. He plays very well"

'Ruined' by injuries

The case of the Colombian is the most recent of those players who, right at the best moment of their soccer career, are victims of injuries, and in some cases they do not return the same as they were.

A very resounding episode, which caused sadness in the soccer world, had as protagonist another Colombian: Falcao García. 'El Tigre' was the victim of a serious knee injury (also an anterior cruciate ligament) in January 2014, less than six months before the start of the World Cup in Brazil. The Colombian National Team had qualified to the contest thanks to their goals and Radamel, of course, was excited to play his first World Cup.

El Tiempo notes that at that time Garcia was going through one of the best moments of his career. He was a scorer in Monaco and it was speculated that, depending on his performance in Brazil 2014, Real Madrid would go for him. However, that injury gave a 180 degree turn to his career and, after it, he was not the same as before. After recovering he went to Manchester United and then Chelsea, but with more pain than glory, and ended up returning to Monaco two years later.

It may interest you: What difficulties does female soccer face around the world?

Ballack, Neymar, Puyol…

The portal 90min also recalled other sad cases in the world of soccer at the time. In 2010, Michael Ballack was getting ready to play his last World Cup with Germany in South Africa. However, while playing for Chelsea the final of the League Cup, he was the victim of a stomping of Kevin Prince Boateng that injured his ankle. He was discarded by Joachim Löw and he would never recover from that blow.

The same website remembers Neymar's case. He suffered an injury at a peak moment in his career: when he was about to play the semi-final of the 2014 World Cup against Brazil in the game against the Colombian National Team. 'Ney' suffered a strong crash from Camilo Zúñiga that injured him in the back. Many analysts say that, if the current PSG player had been present at the match, 'La Canarinha' would not have suffered the crushing defeat of 7-1 against the 'Teutons'.

For its part, Mundo Deportivo made an even more devastating ranking of those players who, due to injuries, had to accelerate their retirement from the fields. The media mentions the case of the Brazilian Ronaldo, who in 2009, stopped palying when his two knees did not respond anymore, due to the different surgeries he had had during his career.

Another surprising case was that of Carles Puyol, the historic defensor of Barcelona, who is estimated to have suffered 36 injuries during his stay on the fields. That definitely made him reconsider the possibility of stopping playing professional soccer to take care of his well-being, especially after he suffered a new injury in the Achilles tendon.

Read also: The return of Messi: these are the upcoming FIFA dates

Other cases

Sebastián Deisler: He was considered the new hit of German soccer, but consecutive knee injuries (five) took him out of the field with only 27 years. After that he went into depression and had to be treated by psychologists.

Darío Benedetto: He was on Jorge Sampaoli's list to join Argentina's roster for the 2018 World Cup, but in a match with Boca Juniors his dreams were diluted after suffering a knee ligament injury.

Eduardo Da Silva: He was born in Brazil, but he was nationalized Croatian and even played with the shirt of the 'Balkans'. However, while disputing a game with Arsenal, he was caught by a brutal kick from Martin Taylor that produced a tibia and fibula injury. After that, he spent a year recovering and returned to the fields, but after the injury he could not return to the level that had led him to the 'Gunners'. Today he is not in the playing fields anymore.

LatinAmerican Post | Yeinson Fajardo Bohórquez

Translated from "Lesiones que dañaron el mejor momento de sus carreras futbolísticas"