Greatest player comebacks from adversity

horsechoker

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So let's get some inspiration up in here, up in here.

Which players came back from an adverse situation and prospered or even did ok considering the circumstances.

Some of the Manchester United 1958 squad post-Munich disaster - it's different for each player who survived but people like Bobby Charlton ended up becoming a United legend after going through such a tragic ordeal.

Santi Carzola - apparently he could have lost his leg but managed to get through his injuries and carve a decent spell at Villarreal

Adebayor - got shot at while on international duty and could have easily been hit. Although he retired from international football he was still able to play at a high level. His attitude notwithstanding.
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Wrong sport but surely Magic Johnson coming back from AIDS after 5 years out deserves a mention.

Lance Arms...ah, never mind..
 

Green_Red

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Fletcher?
Petrov for Celtic and Villa definitely. Im sure there's plenty that have had similar experiences.
 

Catania

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Henrik Larsson breaks his leg
 

Schmeichel's Cartwheel

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Wrong sport again but Michael Bisping (British UFC fighter) came back from losing his eye to win a world title.

Winning a combat sport world title at an elite level with one eye surely can’t be topped.
 

hasanejaz88

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Iraq football team winning the Asia Cup in 2007 following the height of the Iraq War
 

MrMarcello

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Petr Cech - skull fracture
Cisse - two leg breaks
Eduardo da Silva - that injury

And who was the player that swallowed his tongue and another player likely saved his life on the pitch?

Different sport - Clint Malarchuk - slashed throat in NHL game
 

Invictus

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Diego Maradona!

Had his leg broken by Andoni Goikoetxea in the early stages of the 1983 season:

Faced the same opposition in the Copa del Rey final and the occasion was sullied with this infamous brawl...

Questions were raised about his attitude and application, and he also didn't really get along with Barcelona president Núñez — who promptly transferred to Naples (hardly European heavyweights like Juventus or Milan) at the end of the season. Won only 2 of his first 13 Serie A matches at Napoli, so not the most auspicious start. To some it must have no doubt seemed that he had failed to live up to his immeasurable potential.

What happened after that is history, of course — soon he would conclusively separate himself from both Platini and Zico, and fully exorcise the demons of previous years — and would be considered one of the absolute gods of the game in just 2 years.
 

MrMarcello

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Did Goikoetxea only receive a yellow for that tackle?

Looks like the ref is holding a yellow, or perhaps had showed to another player and was instructing Goikoetxea to leave the pitch.
 

calodo2003

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Petr Cech - skull fracture
Cisse - two leg breaks
Eduardo da Silva - that injury

And who was the player that swallowed his tongue and another player likely saved his life on the pitch?

Different sport - Clint Malarchuk - slashed throat in NHL game
Christ, I remember seeing that on replay way back in the day. And, just rewatched it. Still bad.
 

Lay

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Brazilian Ronaldo, after the 1998 WC final and two ACL injuries. Comes back in 2002 after playing like 9 games that season and wins the World Cup.
 

Cheimoon

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Van Nistelrooy - his injuries before joining United. He was out for ages and I think people feared for his career when he got his second injury while trying to come back too quickly. Turned out alright as a player anyway, I think.
 

Annihilate Now!

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I think for us Cantona and Rio did extremely well to come back at a top level after their lengthy bans.
 

harms

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Thiago Silva – TB
Great shout. It happened very early in his career and many don't even remember his first stint in Europe, but to have tuberculosis (and diagnosed quite late), come back to Brazil and then still proceed to have a great career is nothing to sneeze at!
 

limerickcitykid

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So playing any sort of football game after having leukemia isnt a comeback? He needs to have been offered a contract for it to count?
A greatest player comeback requires actually playing professional football, yes. Something which he didn’t do.

He left professional football and was never a professional again. So how is that a comeback?
 

Green_Red

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A greatest player comeback requires actually playing professional football, yes. Something which he didn’t do.

He left professional football and was never a professional again. So how is that a comeback?
Ok, thanks for your input.
 

Gio

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Dave Mackay did well to come back from 2 leg breaks at a time when the treatment and rehabilitation for such injuries was limited.

So playing any sort of football game after having leukemia isnt a comeback? He needs to have been offered a contract for it to count?
Narciso, Brazilian midfielder in the 1990s, had leukemia and made a comeback of sorts.
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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So let's get some inspiration up in here, up in here.

Which players came back from an adverse situation and prospered or even did ok considering the circumstances.

Some of the Manchester United 1958 squad post-Munich disaster - it's different for each player who survived but people like Bobby Charlton ended up becoming a United legend after going through such a tragic ordeal.

Santi Carzola - apparently he could have lost his leg but managed to get through his injuries and carve a decent spell at Villarreal

Adebayor - got shot at while on international duty and could have easily been hit. Although he retired from international football he was still able to play at a high level. His attitude notwithstanding.
Adebayor in the same group as Charlton. Bit nuts
 

horsechoker

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Adebayor in the same group as Charlton. Bit nuts
Adebayor wasn't a great player like Charlton but if someone starts firing at a bus you're on and 3 people die, then you have to consider yourself lucky. Moreover, the mental trauma of being shot at and watching others die would be mentally taxing to say the least.
 

UnrelatedPsuedo

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Adebayor wasn't a great player like Charlton but if someone starts firing at a bus you're on and 3 people die, then you have to consider yourself lucky. Moreover, the mental trauma of being shot at and watching others die would be mentally taxing to say the least.
Its hardly a comeback.

Obviously I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. But there’s a chasm between surviving a plane crash and sitting on a bus and not getting shot.

I sound callous of course.