SICKENING
Nauseating injury to Gomes leaves stars on both sides crying
SEAMUS COLEMAN led a delegation of Everton players into the Spurs dressing room to console Heung-min Son over Andre Gomes’ horrific leg break.
The South Korean was left devastated and still in tears long after the final whistle, following his part in a challenge which left Toffees star Gomes in agony.
Son appeared to catch the back foot of the Portuguese ace but it appeared to be his stumble into a crunching clash with Serge Aurier that did the damage.
Coleman endured a year absence after suffering a double leg break in similar circumstances and he sat with Son, along with s team-mates, as he assured him the horrific injury wasn’t his fault.
They spoke for several minutes with the defender putting his arm around Son and saying: “It’s not your fault, these things happen.”
Afterwards, Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino offered gratitude that the Blues skipper was so generous towards his distraught player.
He said: “I want to thank Coleman, he spoke with Son and reassured him. The players of Everton were fantastic.
“It was never the intention of Son to commit this type of tackle which resulted in such bad incident. He went to challenge the ball. It was emotional in that moment, a little bit confusing.”
It was a sickening injury. The Portuguese midfielder was rushed to hospital with his ankle left hanging at an unnatural angle following the incident, when he caught his studs on the turf.
Blues forward Cenk Tosun, who cradled Gomes’ head as he writhed in agony, was himself in tears at the end and explained the feeling in the dressing room.
He said: “Everybody is sad inside. Some players cried. Andre was in shock, his eyes were open so big. He was like crying, shouting and screaming.
“I just went over to him and tried to hold him and speak to him. I tried to tell him to stay calm. We could never understand it. He was the one injured.”
Son was dismissed for the foul with a challenge from behind which VAR deemed reckless endangerment after referee Martin Atkinson at first issued a yellow card.
Team-mate Dele Alli revealed his trauma: “Son is devastated, he’s still in tears but it’s not his fault. He’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. He can’t even pick his head up in there he’s crying so much. You don’t want to see that happen to anyone, and we all feel devastated for Andre.”
The game became somewhat of an afterthought with Tosun snatching a point seven minutes into injury time after Alli had fired Spurs ahead in 63 minutes.