08/07/2021
The Euro 2020 soccer tournament is reaching its climax with the final between Italy and England to be played this Sunday. While the final is certainly capturing headlines, the injuries suffered by players during the tournament are less well-reported. Soccer is called ‘the beautiful game’ for good reason. However, injuries do sometimes occur, and these can occasionally be
serious.
In the round-of-16 clash between Ukraine and Sweden, the Ukrainian striker Artem Besedin suffered a serious injury to his knee. Looking at the footage of the incident, it is likely that he sustained a multi-ligamentous injury. As the name suggests, this injury affects 2 or more of the 4 main ligaments which stabilize the knee. These are the anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and the lateral collateral ligament. In their most serious form, multi-ligamentous injuries involve a dislocation of the knee.
Multi-ligamentous knee injuries usually require early surgery. While in the past, such injuries would have been career-ending, with modern reconstructive surgical techniques, there is now a reasonable prospect of returning to competitive sporting activity. Here’s wishing Artem a swift recovery!
https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/ukraine-england-dynamo-kiev-sweden-mri-b1875510.html
A late goal in extra time saw Andriy Shevchenko’s side through to face England in Rome