FOOTBALL CLUB WORLD

Birmingham City’s Martin Taylor has spoken of his relief at Eduardo’s return to fitness, and hopes his own ordeal over the broken leg incident is now at an end.

Indeed, the controversial Taylor received death threats after his tackle Eduardo in last February’s Premier League game left Eduardo with horrific injuries. He has always maintained that the tackle was not malicious, and says he has received plenty of support over the last year.

“I must admit that it’s a relief to see him back playing,” expressed Taylor.

“But there is nothing like that first proper game because you are never quite sure whether you have recovered or not. I had a feeling he would be okay because he’d played for Croatia last week. I think it lifted Arsenal on Monday night and I can understand why.

“To recover both mentally and physically — to get through that training and to get back to that standard — he has done really, really well. We must consider that you have to be exceptional to reach that level in the first place. It is one thing to come back and play at all. It is another to play for Arsenal.”

Speaking about the tackle, for which Taylor was dismissed, the former Blackburn footballer expressed: “‘I know in my heart of hearts that it was an accident. A horrible accident. So I wanted to see him playing again. You can never be sure. I was hopeful because of the updates I received from the Gunners. I kept my fingers crossed when he was playing in the reserves.

It’s amazing to notice that in the immediate aftermath of that tumultuous 2-2 draw at St Andrews, Arsene Wenger called for Taylor to be banned from football for life, comments the Frenchman later retracted.

However, the immediate aftermath of the incident proved incredibly difficult for Taylor and his family.

“I had death threats,” he expressed. “No one would sit here and say that was enjoyable. When I received them, I wasn’t too sure with some of them. A couple were written in crayon, some were more sinister. and in despite of that, generally, I didn’t take them too seriously.

“Ninety per cent of the correspondence I had, though, was encouraging. We must consider that the other 10 per cent wasn’t.”

Asked whether Eduardo would shake Taylor’s hand should the pair meet again, he expressed: “I wouldn’t expect him to. Maybe, I don’t know. It’s up to him.”

The talented Eduardo Da Silva said the quick work of physio Gary Lewin after he had broken his leg against Birmingham City last week could have saved his career.

As we know, Eduardo suffered a terrible fractured left fibula and an open dislocation of his ankle joint after a tackle by Birmingham City defender Martin Taylor.

The Croatian player is likely to be out for nine months but Arsenal expect him to make a full recovery. "The injury was so grave I could have lost my foot," he expressed. "So I will always be grateful to Gary for what he did in lowering the risk to my leg. That was decisive. I do not remember too much about the blow."

"In fact, I just remember the pain, seeing that my foot had rotated, but I only recaptured my senses in hospital."

According to the media, Eduardo was visited in hospital by Taylor and has accepted his apologies for the tackle which has ruled him out of the Euro 2008 tournament in June.

"And all I could do was look at his face I was totally pre-occupied," said Eduardo.
"I wanted to believe what Taylor said and to think that what happened was just an unfortunate accident."

"I really had to look at him. I could not understand how anyone could make a tackle like that in only the third minute of a match. But in the end I believed that Taylor was being honest and I accepted his excuses."

The young player said not being able to represent Croatia in Euro 2008 was "the worst blow" but he was heartened by the many messages of support from his club and international team mates.

"I will miss Arsenal's race for the title and the Champions League campaign but, most of all, my first European Championship with Croatia. That is the worst blow," he expressed. "That was a big dream for me. To qualify was one of the best moments in my life but I am only 25 and I can play in other Euros. That's what is in my head" he concluded.