Everton has provided an update on the Andre Gomes horror injury that left Goodison Park in shock on Sunday, saying the midfielder was scheduled for surgery today to repair a broken and dislocated ankle suffered while falling to the ground after being brought down by Tottenham’s Heung-Min Son.
Gomes was left with a gruesome injury that saw players from both teams stunned and emotional as the Portuguese midfielder screamed in pain. Son himself was utterly inconsolable on the field, and when he was eventually sent off – a decision Mauricio Pochettino slammed after the game – he walked straight down the tunnel head in hands.
The club issued a further update, saying that Gomes’ surgery went “extremely well” and that he is “expected to make a full recovery.”
The moment brought both teams to an emotional threshold, and while they finished the rest of the game as Everton rescued a 1-1 draw at the death, the aftermath was a time for both teams to come together as the players coped with what transpired on the field.
According to a report by Greg O’Keeffe and Charlie Eccleshare of The Athletic, who detailed the incident and its aftermath at Goodison Park, the moment haunted players from both sides and Everton players especially were collectively struggling to deal with the emotions. A backroom staff member reportedly emerged from the locker room back onto the empty pitch and proclaimed, “There are grown men crying in there.” The report states Son was still visibly distressed as much as 25 minutes after the match had ended.
To help Son pull himself together, Everton captain Seamus Coleman entered the Spurs dressing room and helped console the South Korean. This was a particularly poignent gesture given that Coleman himself suffered through a devastating leg break back in 2017 that has left him with more than just physical wounds. Coleman’s words, according to The Athletic report, “temporarily seemed to soothe Son’s devastation.” It didn’t last long, however, as the report details how Son walked through the mix zone with his head in his hands, not even speaking to the Korean journalists waiting for him.
The gesture was not lost on Pochettino, who made sure to share his gratitude with the media during his post-match press conference. “The players from Everton were fantastic,” he said. “The captain came to the dressing room to console Son. I want to say thank you to the players and Coleman, who came in on behalf of the squad of Everton.”
Son was far from the only person on the field to be scarred by the moment. Spurs defender Serge Aurier was also deeply affected by the incident. Aurier was also involved in the challenge and may have felt some responsibility, seen praying on the field in the immediate aftermath while Gomes received treatment. Everton striker Cenk Tosun, who immediately attempted to console Gomes as everyone realized the seriousness of the injury and medics rushed onto the field, spoke about how he is struggling to erase the look of horror on his injured teammate’s face from his own memory. The Premier League is even reportedly ensuring a sports psychologist will be made available to referee Martin Atkinson in the aftermath of the incident.
Current and former Everton players took to social media looking to wish Gomes well in his recovery. The most poignant of which came from former Everton and current Copenhagen defender Bryan Ovideo, who himself suffered a gruesome leg break in an FA Cup game against Stevenage.
Gomes has a long recovery ahead of him and is almost surely done for at least the rest of the season, but he is far from the only one affected by the distressing scenes at Goodison Park on Sunday.
