It’s very rare these days to see footballers play through injuries, mostly because clubs normally have the depth in their squad to make do.
However, sometimes, players are asked to do just that due to necessity, and that’s exactly what William Gallas had to do for two months during his spell at Chelsea.
Speaking to SFR Sport in France, whose show Le Vestiaire were focusing on playing with injuries, the former defender explained why and how he spent games grinding his teeth through pain for the good of the team.
He said: “When I was at Chelsea, I’d sprained my ankle really badly and at that time there were no more defenders. It was necessary that I played the next games, and every time, I was allowed injections.
“They lasted around, let’s say, 80 minutes, and the final 10 minutes was just excruciating pain. I had to do that for more than two months. I wouldn’t train until the Thursday or the Friday because I couldn’t do it without injections.”
He wasn’t the only one, though, as Frank Leboeuf, who presents the show, also remembered having to do something similar at Chelsea when he suffered from a sports hernia, taking anti-inflammatories for six months, causing him to form an ulcer in his oesophagus.
The player then didn’t tell his manager or the club about his gastric problems until his now ex-wife rang Ruud Gullit up to tell him herself.
Still, not sure we’d see that these days, you know, modern football and all that…
