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A footballer's greatest fear isn't losing a match or failing to get a new contract — it's a serious injury. It means stepping away from something you love, something that drives you, and it can sometimes put your health at serious risk. In this article we look back at some of the worst tackles and their consequences for the players involved.
10 — Manuel Pablo (Deportivo de la Coruña)
This list opens with one of the most notorious tackles in Spanish football — the one suffered by full-back Manuel Pablo in a fiery Galician derby between Celta de Vigo and Deportivo de la Coruña in the 2001/02 season. Brazilian Everton Giovanella went in with a brutal challenge that left the Deportivo man with a fractured tibia and fibula and almost a year on the sidelines.
9 — Alfie Haaland (Manchester City)
Next is another tackle that passed into history for its ferocity, its context and its protagonists — Irishman Roy Keane and Norwegian Alfie Haaland, Erling Haaland's father. Revenge was served ice cold: five years after Roy Keane injured himself trying to get past Alfie, the Irishman decided to stop the Norwegian by any means necessary — a savage studs-up challenge that effectively ended Alfie Haaland's career, forcing him into premature retirement.
8 — Sergio Asenjo (Atlético de Madrid)
He didn't need a Roy Keane or a Vinnie Jones — the greatest enemy of goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo's career was his own knees. He suffered no fewer than four ruptured cruciate ligaments — arguably the most serious injury a footballer can sustain. His knee injuries kept him off the pitch for close to a thousand days in total. The first occurred in 2001 while he was at Atlético de Madrid; the last came in 2017 while he was at Villarreal, in a match against Real Madrid. Other similar cases include midfielder Sergio Canales, who ruptured his cruciate on three separate occasions.
7 — Diego Armando Maradona (Barcelona)
The Argentine icon 'El Pelusa' suffered a tackle so infamous it has transcended generations. In the 1983/84 campaign, Andoni Goikoetxea — then of Athletic Club — went in studs-first on Maradona's left ankle with no chance of reaching the ball, sending Diego straight to the operating table. The image of the Argentine writhing on the turf is iconic, but ultimately the injury was less severe than feared and he was out for around four months.
6 — Ronaldo Nazário (Inter)
There was a night when Ronaldo Nazário "El Fenómeno"'s career changed forever. In the 1999/2000 season, just as the Brazilian was playing in the Coppa Italia Final against Lazio, he ruptured his patellar tendon. The recovery was brutal and lengthy, and although he later signed for Real Madrid, he was never quite the same player again.
5 — César Jiménez (Real Zaragoza)
In the 2004/05 campaign, Portuguese international Luis Figo went in two-footed on the left knee of César. The ugly and brutal challenge caused serious knee damage, and after four operations over two years the Zaragoza centre-back was forced to retire from football.
4 — Eduardo da Silva (Arsenal)
In a Birmingham–Arsenal match in the 2007/08 season, Birmingham's Martin Taylor left Eduardo da Silva with a fractured left fibula that kept him out for ten months. "I could have lost my leg," the Brazilian said. Supporters and press alike labelled Taylor a butcher, and Eduardo himself stated that the challenge was malicious.
3 — Petr Čech (Chelsea)
The Czech goalkeeper's injury was very different from the rest on this list. Chelsea's Petr Čech suffered an unfortunate clash of heads with Reading's Stephen Hunt. Čech writhed in agony and spent three months sidelined with a fractured skull. From that moment on, the legendary goalkeeper wore his iconic rugby-style protective helmet for the rest of his career.
2 — David Busst (Coventry City)
"They said they were going to have to cut my leg off." So said David Busst, then of Coventry City. Coming out to contest a corner, Busst was caught by a challenge from Denis Irwin that horrified Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel. Busst suffered multiple fractures of the tibia and fibula along with a series of infections, forcing him to undergo 26 operations and, of course, to retire from football.
1 — Ewald Lienen (Arminia Bielefeld)
This list closes with a horrific injury that will live forever in the game's memory. You've almost certainly seen the image of Lienen's leg — the Arminia Bielefeld midfielder who was left with a 25-centimetre open wound after a challenge from Norbert Siegmann that exposed both bone and muscle. Despite the severity of the injury, the German returned to playing just 17 days later. The image passed into history as one of the most harrowing ever seen in football.
That concludes our ranking of some of the worst tackles and injuries in world football history.
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