5.Neymar Jr Back Injury-World Cup 2014

In 2014 the world cup was held in Brazil, home of the ginga style of football, which includes surprise moves, foot tricks, and quick sprints in order to beat the opposition. One player that encompasses all these elements of football is Neymar Jr, the poster boy of the Brazilian national team. 

This was supposed to be Brazil's year to win the world cup for the first time since 2002, as they were tipped as favourites before the tournament to win the whole thing, and do it in their own backyard. The early signs were positive as Brazil topped their group, with Neymar scoring 4 goals. They then beat Chile on penalties in the round of 16 where they then faced Colombia in the quarter-finals.  

Brazil managed to win this game 2-1, however, disaster struck in the 88th minute of the game. Neymar received a drive from the knee of an opposition player into his lower back sending him into considerable pain. He was taken off the field on a stretcher and airlifted to the hospital. It was later revealed that Neymar had suffered a fracture to the L3 vertebrae in his back.   The reason this was such a high-profile case is because in the semi-finals Brazil faced Germany....where they lost heavily 7-1, with people believing this would not have happened if Brazil had been able to play with Neymar. Germany went on to win that year's world cup, but who knows if things would have been different without Neymar's injury? 

4.Petr Cech Head Injury-2006/07 Premier League

Petr Cech is a now-retired Czech goalkeeper who is most well-known for his time at Chelsea football club. This injury occurred on a random league game against Reading, very early on in the season in October. Furthermore, the injury occurred only 15 seconds into the game. 

Reading played a long ball over the Chelsea defence leaving a race to the ball between Petr Cech and Reading midfielder, Stephen Hunt. Both players went bravely for the ball, however, both players collided which resulted in Hunt’s knee colliding with the goalkeeper's head. This injury could have been incredibly more serious and death was inches away. Cech was rushed to John Radcliffe Hospital neurological unit in Oxford where he received life-saving surgery and received metal plates into his head. Cech was out for three months while he recovered from this serious head injury, and when we did return things would never be the same. 

The reason this case is so high-profile is because Cech continued his career wearing a trademark protective headguard, most commonly seen being worn by rugby players. Cech went on to play for another 23 years after his injury, whilst wearing his protective cap throughout the remainder of his career, which was a successful one, winning 4 league titles, 5 FA cups and the Champions League. 

3.Luke Shaw Leg Injury-2015 Champions League

20 years old, the age where footballer start to break onto the scene and make a name for themselves whilst also attempting to break into the national team. Luke shaw, who at the time was the most expensive teenager in world football after his move from Southampton to Manchester United, was starting to really impress the footballing world as he made the left-back position his own at United.

In September 2015, Manchester United had a Champions League game away to PSV Eindhoven, where Luke shaw featured. Shaw suffered a potentially career-ending injury with a double fracture to his right leg after a poorly timed challenge by Mexican international Hector Moreno. Shaw was down receiving treatment and oxygen for almost 10 minutes before finally being stretchered off the field to receive further medical attention. 

This case is high-profile due to the timing of Luke’s injury as he had just cemented himself as a starter for United and had also started to work his way into the England set up too. Luke missed 6 months of football and upon returning struggled to regain his form and confidence for a while, which is understandable due to the severity and the age he was. 

Luke has finally been able to regain form and was part of Gareth Southgate's squad in the 2020 Euro’s tournament, where Shaw even scored in the final of the competition in England's defeat to Italy. 

2.Virgil Van Dijk Knee Injury-2020/21 Premier League

In the previous year Liverpool were able to win their first Premier league trophy for 30 years. One player that played a large part in this league victory was Centre back Virgil Van Dijk, who even rival fans can admit is one of the best defenders in the league as since joining Liverpool in 2018 has completely solidified their defence. 

Going into the new season, Liverpool fans were excited at the prospect of them being able to challenge for the league title again. However, very early on into the season, Liverpool played Everton in the Merseyside derby. Van Dijk suffered a collision with England and Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford after both players went for the ball. Van Dijk suffered a torn ACL in his knee due to the collision, which to the frustration of Liverpool fans was offside anyway and could have been avoided if the linesman had flagged earlier. 

Liverpool went on to suffer multiple defensive injuries that season which ended in a respectable 4th place finish for the champions. The reason this case was so high profile is Liverpool’s defence looked nowhere near as imposing without Van Dijk in the team and ultimately showed all football fans around the world how important he is to Liverpool, and also raises the question could Liverpool have won back-to-back league titles if he had remained fit?

1.Cristiano Ronaldo Knee Injury- Euros 2016

Similar to Neymar for Brazil, Cristiano Ronaldo is seen as the poster boy for Portuguese football. He is the team captain and alongside Lionel Messi is known for being the best footballer of this generation. 

In 2016, Portugal were competing in the Euros tournament, with their frontman Ronaldo scoring 3 goals within the tournament. Portugal, who had never won a Euros or a World Cup in their history, made it to the final where they had to face the tournament favourites, France. 

In the ninth minute of the game, Ronaldo suffered a collision with French international Dimitri Payet, where Ronaldo clearly suffered some discomfort to his knee, but after receiving treatment decided to continue. Ronaldo went down again in the 17th minute, clearly struggling with his knee, but after receiving more off-field treatment, he returned to the pitch. Finally, in the 25th minute Ronaldo once again went down, but this time in tears as he eventually realised, he would not be able to continue after what was later found to be a grade 1 anterior cruciate ligament sprain in his left knee 

Against all the odds, Portugal were able to go on to win the game with a winner in extra time from striker Eder. But what makes this case so high profile is the fact that the underdogs in the final, even without their captain and frontman were still able to win their first international trophy in their history.