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DECEMBER 1
Cisse feared losing
leg
Sporting Life
French striker Djibril Cisse has revealed he could have lost his left
leg in the aftermath of the horrific injury which wrecked his first season
at Liverpool.
Cisse was carried off with a double fracture of his leg after a tackle in
the Barclays Premiership match at Blackburn on October 30 - and will not
play again this season.
And the £14m signing from Auxerre claims his whole career could have been
destroyed and that had he not had expert medical treatment at Ewood Park,
there was the prospect of amputation.
Cisse, in an interview with club magazine LFC, said: "When I was taken
from the field, what they did next was so important for my career, what
they did in those first few moments was vital.
"My bone were overlapping and I had no circulation in my foot."
And the 23-year-old insists: "They had to give me drugs to help with the
pain and then they had to pull my bones back into place with their hands.
"If they had waited until I had got to the hospital I might have lost my
leg, it was that serious."
Cisse is still on crutches but is back at Liverpool's training ground
having daily treatment and has told manager Rafael Benitez he has set a
target of being able to play in the final few games of the season.
But he is clearly very aware of the debt he owes to Liverpool's medical
team for their swift action at the ground when he was first injured.
NOVEMBER 15
Striker upbeat
about future
Daily Post
Injured Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse has shrugged off doubts about
his long-term fitness and vowed to return to action next season.
The 23-year-old broke his leg against Blackburn last month and there have
been worries over whether he will return, such was the severity of the
injury.
But the France striker has received inspiration from Bolton midfielder
Khalilou Fadiga - who has had to have a defibrillator implanted to correct
a heart problem - and believes he was lucky to avoid further
complications.
Cisse said: "I never thought of ending my career, not for a tibia-fibula
fracture, even if it is the worst injury of my career.
"It is not a stop, just a break and we will start again next year.
"Friends like Djimi Traore, Florent Sinama-Pongolle, Kali (Fadiga) come
often to see me.
"When I see what happened to Kali, my injury is nothing. He might lose his
life and for me it is just a broken tibia.
"The doctor visits me at home, Rafael Benitez and my team-mates came to
see me in hospital and when I go to Melwood, they are all happy to see me.
"I am waiting for my chance because football is all I know."
NOVEMBER 1
Cisse 'faces
anxious injury wait'
By Phil Harlow - BBC Sport Online
Liverpool's Djibril Cisse will have to wait at least two months to
learn how long he will be out of the game, according to a leading
physiotherapist.
Cisse
underwent surgery on Sunday after breaking his leg against Blackburn.
"Liverpool now face a big waiting game to see if the bones have healed,"
Daryl Martin, a physio with the English Institute of Sport, told BBC
Sport.
"You hope that they will heal in six to eight weeks, but this type of
surgery is notorious for taking much longer."
Martin, who used to work for Fulham and is currently dealing with a
professional footballer suffering with an identical injury, added: "It
could take six to nine months and the absolute worst-case scenario is 18
months, but on average it would be three or four months.
"He won't be able to start his rehab until the bone shows some signs of
healing."
Cisse suffered a comminuted fracture of the tibia and fracture of the
fibula after an innocuous-looking challenge from Blackburn's Jay McEveley
on Saturday.
"It did look like a fairly harmless incident and it's unusual for it to
result in such a bad injury," said Martin.
"But as to why some tackles end up this way - that's the million-dollar
question that no-one can answer.
"It just comes down to bad luck. Cisse has probably experienced tackles
like that 100 times before without a problem, but on this occasion his leg
could simply not cope with the amount of force."
The 23-year-old, who arrived for £14m in the summer from Auxerre, had pins
inserted in his leg in an operation on Sunday.
"A comminuted fracture usually infers that the bone has been broken into
more than two pieces," explained Martin.
"If the two ends of a broken bone are in line with each other then you can
just put someone in plaster and the two bones will heal together very
quickly.
"But I can only assume that, because he had metal inserted in his leg, the
ends of his bone are quite far from each other or even overlapping."
Liverpool have said Cisse will be out of action for the rest of the
season, but Martin claims that an end-of-season return is not out of the
question for the Frenchman.
"If everything goes to plan then five months out is not an unrealistic
target," he added.
"But if the bones don't start to heal properly then it could potentially
be this time next year. And unfortunately there is a chance that it's a
career-ending injury.
"Nine times out of 10 players come back without any long-term problem, but
unfortunately there is a minority of cases where that doesn't happen.
"He's going to have to work very hard before he can get back on a football
pitch."
