Why footballers fear Achilles tendon ruptures more than any other injury

It comes out of nowhere. Like being hit by a sniper. Some people even recall hearing a loud pop, like the sound from a gunshot. Others simply feel it, a sudden, intense pain in the back of their lower leg as their Achilles snaps in two.For Hugo Ekitike, it came, as they often do, in the most innocuous of circumstances. An attempted change of direction, pushing off with his right foot and then, bang. The Liverpool striker crumpled to the turf, believing he had been kicked from behind — surely, a blatant foul from a Paris Saint-Germain defender. When Ekitike rolled over onto his back, he realised that there was no one there.Advertisement