Former Arsenal physio Gary Lewin has admitted the horror injury sustained by Eduardo is one that "sticks in your memory".
Brazilian-born striker Eduardo was challenged by Birmingham centre-half Martin Taylor during a feisty clash in February 2008, and suffered a broken fibula and a dislocated ankle in the incident.
The Gunners ' players were visibly distressed on the pitch, and the tackle was cited as a reason for Arsenal losing their lead in the 2007/08 title race thereafter.
Taylor was sent off for the incident, and Arsene Wenger called for him to be banned from football for life in the immediate aftermath of the game, a comment he later retracted.
Lewin, the Arsenal physio at the time, immediately attended to the striker and has now discussed the severity of the situation.
“I’ll never forget it,” he told The Athletic. “It’s probably the worst injury I’ve ever seen and when you see something that bad it really sticks in your memory.
“When I went on the pitch I noticed his ankle was dislocated and in the wrong shape. I also saw the bone sticking out of his sock so I knew it was an open fracture.
“Eduardo was in a lot of distress so the first I did was get hold of the ankle to make sure he couldn’t move it.
“With foreign players they always go back to their native tongue, so because he spoke Portuguese I got Cesc Fabregas to talk to him as Spanish and Portuguese are very similar.
“That way I could communicate to him what we were doing and get some information back about what he was feeling. The most important thing was to try and calm Eduardo down. We managed to immobilise the ankle and get him off the pitch. He was having surgery within hours."
Professor in clinical traumatology Keith Porter operated on the star just an hour after the former Croatia international arrived in hospital following Taylor's controversial tackle.
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