Ireland boss urges leg-break right-back to follow in the footsteps of Celtic legend
Republic of Ireland’s defender Seamus Coleman receives medical attention on the pitch after being injured during the World Cup 2018 qualification football match between Republic of Ireland and Wales at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland on March 24, 2017.
Dublin: Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill hopes injured captain Seamus Coleman will be able to follow the example of former Celtic star Henrik Larsson in recovering fully from a broken leg.
Coleman, 28, was still in a Dublin hospital on Monday, two days after he had surgery on the tibia and fibula bones in his right leg which were snapped by an appalling tackle from Wales’s Neil Taylor, who was sent off in the goalless World Cup qualifying draw at Lansdowne Road.
O’Neill, however, urged Coleman to take heart from the example of Larsson, whom he saw make a full recovery while manager of Glasgow giants Celtic.
“Before I went to Celtic, about five or six months before that, Henrik Larsson had a very serious injury and he recovered magnificently and the injury didn’t bother him again from then until the end of his career, so players have recovered,” O’Neill, speaking about right-back Coleman at his prematch news conference ahead of Tuesday’s friendly international with Iceland, said.
“Great players have broken their legs and come back, and Seamus, obviously it’s very early for him to start considering all those things, but he is positive.
“Naturally, he’s down, as he would be as the realisation that he is going to be out of action for quite some considerable time has dawned on him, so those type of things don’t just take five minutes to get over.
“But he’s very strong, he’s got a lot of good people around him, his family is very, very strong as well and he is positive that he will be back and as good as ever.”
Coleman was injured soon after fellow defender John O’Shea was on the receiving end of a wild challenge from Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale, with many observers feeling the Wales star was fortunate to only receive a yellow card rather than the red shown Taylor.
“I thought both challenges when I have seen them back have been very, very poor,” said O’Neill. Very poor indeed.”
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