The ordeal of a former French player after suffering 12 operations: he asked doctors to amputate his leg

Football is one of the most beautiful sports in the world. But at the same time, as with any discipline, the player is predisposed to suffering injuries that affect his physique during his career and once he decides to move away from professional activity. This is the case of former Paris Saint-Germain player, Frenchman Bruno Rodríguez, who suffered many problems after his retirement.

The former striker who emerged in Monaco, and who also passed through other French clubs such as Metz or Lens, recounted his ordeal after suffering several injuries to one of his ankles that led him to make the decision to infiltrate in order to play.

“When I was playing, I had a lot of ankle sprains. I always wanted to play, both small and big games. The cortisone that I was injected with, it is known, corrodes the cartilage, and if there is no more cartilage, it irrigates inside. We, as footballers, are not aware of the consequences. Surely if they had explained it to me, I would have said that I would have let the next game go by,” Rodríguez said in an extensive interview with the French sports newspaper, L'Equipe.

Then, the former attacker who retired in 2005 and is 49 years old today gave details of how his health problem evolved until he asked doctors to amputate part of his right leg after 12 operations after his farewell to football.

“I couldn't drive anymore. My wife had to wash me. I couldn't work anymore, so there was no more money coming in. It did a lot of damage in my life. I couldn't enjoy my children. I couldn't do anything anymore, I stayed at home. We're no longer useful. I wasn't necessarily depressed. Well, I thought so. But I was just eating. It irritated me easily. It was no longer a life for my wife. If she hadn't been there, she could have ruined it,” Rodriguez said of the dark thoughts that appeared to her because of physical and mental suffering.

“During the penultimate operation they removed my malleolus (rounded process of the tibia and fibula on either side of the ankle joint). That caused a tumor. It was benign, but it could have been transformed. A month and a half ago we had one last meeting with the doctors. I asked them to cut. Even if there is still pain, at least I will be able to walk normally with a prosthesis, I can be independent,” he explained.

Once news of his physical problems broke, Rodriguez received calls from several former leaders of the teams he played for and during a PSG match in Parque de los Princes a banner was displayed with a message for him. For the next three months, who also knew how to wear the Rayo Vallecano shirt in Spanish football during 2001 will have to hold physiotherapy sessions.

“We work mainly in balance. I have the pain of the operation, but above all there is that of the phantom limb, which will decrease over time: they are nervous pains, the brain thinks that there is always the leg. I have the impression that I have the foot, I want to move my fingers and ankle, it pulls me... It's very rare,” he said.

After a 13-year professional career in which he scored 76 goals, Bruno Rodríguez left an important message for the new generations of footballers and the care they need to take to take care of their career. “Of course I regret it. If they had told me he was going to take me there, I would have said no. You play games and they don't tell you you have to rest. But I don't blame anyone. It has to be useful, he says. That they amputated me, who cares. But it has to be a shock. Educate young people. That it be used in training centers”, he concluded.

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