Emotional Rondon’s telly tears

NEWCASTLE United forward Salomon Rondon displayed his emotional side as the Venezuelan broke down in tears during a TV interview.

The 29-year-old, who joined the Magpies on a season-long loan from West Bromwich Albion during the summer window, was recalling his involvement in a freak incident which led to James McCarthy suffering a serious leg break earlier this year.

Back in January, then-West Brom striker Rondon and Everton midfielder McCarthy were running towards the byline, when the Venezuela forward attempted to kick the ball.

However, as he swung his foot forward, Rondon inadvertently caught the back of McCarthy’s leg, which then buckled underneath the Everton player.

The Republic of Ireland international midfielder was sidelined for 10 months as a result of the injury – and Rondon was also greatly affected by the incident.

Not only did Rondon cry on the pitch at Goodison Park once he saw the severity of McCarthy’s injury, he needed to be consoled by then-Baggies manager Alan Pardew and his West Brom teammates at the time.

In the days after the incident, Rondon offered support and sympathy to McCarthy on social media, before visiting the Irishman in hospital.

Everton supporters praised Rondon for his compassion in the aftermath of the injury – and the Venezuelan has once again shown that, despite being a powerful and no-nonsense-style striker on the field, he is an emotional and empathetic character off the pitch.

“Life played me a bad turn because I was the one who experienced it,” Rondon – who scored his first Premier League goals for Newcastle against AFC Bournemouth earlier this month, and is expected to lead the line for the Magpies at Burnley on Monday night – said during an interview with TV station Telemundo, as tears started to stream down his face.

“I’m crying because, apart from the fact that he’s a fellow professional, it was an injury that I actually felt when it happened. I’ll never forget it – it was tough.

“Thanks to God, I didn’t need the help of a psychologist because my family were there for me, but it’s something that I never wanted to experience.

“In all of my naivety, I apologised to him, but it was totally unintentional. I didn’t want it to happen and didn’t think it would ever happen.”