Footballers are always inseparable from injuries. Some players lose their careers with a single injury, and some players have been injured many times but survived adversity for a long time. Here are five "glass geniuses" who have some of the best talent in the world but have struggled with injuries in their careers.
Midfielder: Fernando Redondo
Date of birth: June, 6 1969
Argentina national team: 1 goal and 1 assist in 29 matches
Fernando Redondo is known as the "Prince" for his good looks and elegant playing style. He made his debut in Argentine youth and joined La Liga side Tenerife in 1990. In the 1991/92 season, he prevented the club from being relegated to the second division, and in the following 1992/93 he successfully helped Tenerife to a team's all-time best finish in the league in 5th place, helping the team to participate in the UEFA Cup for the first time in its history.
In order to break through his own bottleneck, he moved to Real Madrid with "teacher" Valdarno in the summer of 1994, helping the team win La Liga and the Champions League twice in six seasons at Real Madrid. In particular, in the 1999/00 season, he led the team to win the Champions League as captain, and in the semi-final match against Manchester United, he was famous for helping Raul break the goal with his heels.
As a result of his outstanding performances that season, Redondo was named UEFA Club Footballer of the Year. But when Florentino Pérez became President of Real Madrid in the summer of 2000, Redondo moved to Serie A club AC Milan for a controversial £11m. However, he suffered a serious injury immediately after his transfer to Milan, with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee. After a long recovery, he returned to the battlefield in the middle of the 2002/03 season, but failed to show the light of his heyday again, retiring at the age of 34 at the end of the 2003/04 season.
Midfielder: Fernando Gago
Date of birth: April, 10 1986
Argentina national team: 9 goals and 4 assists in 61 games
Fernando Gagoin has been dubbed the "new Redondo" in his playing style and appearance, and his career has been plagued by injuries like Redondo's. In the winter of 2007, at Boca Youth Rising, he was taken to Real Madrid along with Higuain, who played at River Plate.
At Real Madrid, he was a starting player when he first joined, but became a substitute when Mourinho took over as manager in the summer of 2010. Due to a knee injury, he played only 7 official matches during the 2010/11 season.
Gago was loaned to Roma in the 2011/12 season, where he made 30 appearances but was followed by frequent injuries at Valencia, Sarsfield and Boca. He has not been able to play properly over the past few seasons due to three Achilles tendon ruptures and two knee ligament ruptures, and retired in November 2020 at the age of 34 like Redondo.
Forward: Pablo Aymar
Date of birth: November, 3 November 1979
Argentina national team: 8 goals and 6 assists in 52 matches
The "genius" Pablo Aymar, who was hailed as an idol by Messi, was praised. He made his debut in River Plate in 1995–96 and won numerous titles such as the Copa Libertadores. In January 2001, he joined Valencia, who swept La Liga at the time, and helped the club win two La Liga and UEFA Cup titles into the golden age.
However, after the 2003/04 season, his chances of racing were gradually reduced due to hernia and muscle injuries. He moved to Benfica for 6.5 million euros in the summer of 2008, still plagued by injuries. After leaving Benfica, he joined Malaysia against Johor DT in January 2014, but only played 8 games due to injury and left the team in just 4 months. After a period of independent transfers, in January 2015 he returned to his home team River Plate, but due to a right ankle injury, he only played one game and decided to retire in July. Once described by Maradona as "the only player worth my ticket to see the ball" could not win the injury.
Midfielder: Eric Lamela
Date of birth: May, 4 1990
Argentina national team: 3 goals and 2 assists in 25 matches
Eric Lamela scored many memorable super goals in his career. Joining Roma from River Plate in the summer of 2011, he scored a career-high 15 goals the following year in 2012/13.
He joined Tottenham Hotspur in August 2013 as Gareth Bale's successor, who moved to Real Madrid in the summer of 2013, but in his first year he played just nine games in the Premier League due to a back injury. Withdrew for more than a year due to a back injury caused during the 2016/17 season. Since then, he has often been forced to truce due to injuries and cannot become an absolute mainstay. Even with limited appearances, his performances are often memorable for fans, with the 2020/21 North London derby goal against Arsenal being voted Premier League Goal of the Year.
In the summer of 2021, he moved to Sevilla, scoring two goals in the first round and playing in 17 consecutive games until the 13th round of La Liga. However, he will miss out for 4 months with a right shoulder injury during training in November.
Midfielder: Javier Pastore
Date of birth: June, 20 1989
Argentina national team history: 2 goals and 5 assists in 29 games
Javier Pastore, who was once compared to former Brazilian midfielder Kaka, has been plagued by injuries in recent years and has not developed as expected. Debuted for Argentine side Talerres, joining Serie A side Palermo in the summer of 2009. In 2010, he won the Serie A Young Player of the Year award.
Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), who joined in the summer of 2011, scored double-digit goals from his first year and led Paris Saint-Germain to the league title for the first time in 19 years the following year. In the 2017-18 season, with the addition of Neymar, Pastore gave up the no. 10 shirt. He has been slightly injured since the 2015/16 season, having been forced to leave seven times in the same season alone due to injuries.
After moving to Roma in the summer of 2018, he injured his calf and injured his hip, playing only 37 games in three seasons. When Mourinho became Roma manager in the summer of 2021, Javier Pastore was not on the plan to terminate the team's contract. Elche currently plays for Elche in La Liga.