The Most Horrific Injury In Football EVER

In 1981, Ewald Lienen was a midfielder with Arminia Bielefeld. He was a seasoned pro with a career of about 10 years. On August 14th his Arminia team played Werder Bremen in a fixture that had no importance on the outcome of the season. By the end of the day, he would be on the wrong end of a bad tackle that would expose the bone and muscle in his upper leg. A tackle that produced the most horrific injury in football ever!

The gruesome and graphic images of his injury would be shown all across the world.

It was a moment that marked his career and his life forever.

Muscle And Bone Are Visible

The game started like any other game. There was no underlying current of physicality or tension. Football was the winner as both teams played the game the way it should be played. In the 20th minute, the atmosphere changed.

Lienen was making an offensive foray towards Werder’s goal. Arriving on the left wing at a pace he was suddenly stopped in his tracks by a hard and violent tackle by defender Norbert Siegmann. Although it looked like a hard tackle from the outset it looked fair. That was until Lienen rolled over to show his left leg.

23 Stitches

Almost immediately Lienen clutched his head and began to scream in pain at the sight of his leg. Clear to see was a 12-inch open gash on his thigh. It was so bad his muscle and bone were visible. Despite the obvious severity of the injury, Siegmann professed his innocence in the proceedings. As a result, Lienen’s injury would require 23 stitches. It was without a doubt the most horrific injury in football EVER!

Nobody knew what was happening, the referee approached Siegmann and took out a yellow card. Perhaps in shock, Lienen tried to get up and walk. Once he saw for himself he collapsed to the floor in tears.

No Pain

However, adrenalin took over and he left to his feet and hobbled over to the opposition’s bench to remonstrate with their Werder manager Otto Rehhagel.

Lienen subsequently indicated he believed that the Werder Bremen manager had instructed Siegmann to tackle over and above the permitted rules of the game.

A Court Battle

Siegmann refuted these claims. Lienen took Otto Rehhagel and Werder to court citing the injury was a planned attack but lost the case.

A month later Lienen was back on the pitch playing again in the return fixture. Understandably tension was evident and extra police were called to make sure the proceedings went off without any issues.

Otto Rehhagel wore a bulletproof vest for the match and prior to the game, a pistol was confiscated from a fan entering the ground. Ultimately the Police were vindicated in their right to be cautious.