Heart health problems have prevented many players from continuing to run on the green grass, and Barcelona’s Sergio Aguero may become the last name forced to stop, as the Argentine striker will hold a press conference, Wednesday, to determine his future.
Aguero suffered from chest pains during the Barcelona and Alaves match at the end of last October, and doctors recommended that he rest for three months before returning again, but most Spanish press reports confirmed that his football career had come to an end.
Football fans do not forget the tragic start of Euro 2020, when the captain of the Danish national team Christian Eriksen fell to the ground in the team’s first match in the tournament against Finland, after his heart stopped, as Eriksen’s fall lasted approximately 15 minutes, and he received rapid electric shocks from the team’s doctors After his colleague Simon Kjaer rushed to him and made sure not to swallow his tongue.
And the player’s position is still ambiguous, whether to continue his football career or not, as he began individual training earlier this December in his country, accompanied by a special assistant, for the first time since he was exposed to the crisis about 6 months ago. He worked with him before at Tottenham, the player retired from the game, saying: He died for a few minutes in the Euro, do we advise him to return to the stadiums again? The answer is no.
He continued, “I don’t think he should play another professional match, if he was playing in England, we would have prevented him from that.”
This incident drew the attention of football federations and clubs to the need to increase attention to the health of players, and to conduct more heart checks, as doctors from the British Heart Foundation revealed that periodic examination of players may help detect heart problems early before complications occur, and they stressed the need to know each player. His family’s medical history, especially if a member of his family died of a sudden crisis before the age of fifty.
The increase in heart attacks among players highlighted the importance of having medical staff ready to catch up immediately if they occur on the stadiums, as studies have shown that for every minute lost after a player suffers a heart attack, there is a 7% decrease in the probability of his survival.
Followers of English football remember the incident of Fabrice Mwamba, a former Bolton Wanderers player, when his heart stopped during his team’s match against Tottenham Hotspur in March 2012.
Muamba’s heart stopped for 78 minutes, prompting Howard Webb, the referee of the match, to cancel it, but the quick medical staff of the two teams with electric shocks and divine providence helped his heart beat again.
Doctors revealed at the time that Mwamba was lucky, as the Tottenham medical staff at White Hart Lane were prepared to deal with these cases, and they began to resuscitate his heart quickly, as delaying resuscitation reduces the chances of survival by 10%.
The player spent 4 weeks in intensive care in the hospital, before the medical staff agreed to his discharge, to return to the “Reebok Stadium”, which witnessed the accident, giving an emotional speech in which he thanked the doctors and fans for his support, and announced his retirement from football.
Heart problems forced Iker Casillas, the legend of Real Madrid and the former Porto player, to suspend his gloves, after he suffered a heart attack in May 2019 during the Portuguese club’s training.
The 2010 world champion has not played any official matches since then, until he announced his retirement via his official account on Twitter with an emotional message: Farewell to the sport of my life, in August 2020.
The list of players who were prevented from continuing their career due to health crises included Ruben de la Red, the former Real Madrid and Getafe player.
De la Red fell unconscious during the Meringue match against Real Union in the King’s Cup, which was held a few months after he was crowned European champion with Spain in 2008.
Doctors confirmed that the player does not suffer from a serious heart problem, but suffers from a chronic injury, and advised him to leave the stadiums, so that the player appeared in a joint conference two years after the accident with Jorge Valdano, the former general manager of Real Madrid, announcing his retirement at the age of 25 years only.
