BEVERLY HILLS, March 16, (THEWILL) – In the Monday night’s English Premier League fixture between defending champions Liverpool and hosts Wolverhampton Wanderers, the disturbing sight of Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio being stretchered off the pitch after a concerning collision with team-mate Conor Coady in the closing minutes of the match cast a dampener on the entire night of football at the Molineux.
For the 12 minutes the medics needed to administer on-the-spot treatment, the now pertinent conversation surrounding concussion concerns for sports in general and football in particular came to the fore again. Last month, the English FA commenced trialling the concussion substitutions amendment to the substitutes’ rules.
Fortunately, Wolves Portuguese boss Nuno Espirito Santo gave a positive update after the match of the goalkeeper’s condition, telling the media that Patricio was conscious and “doing OK” after the coach was assured that it was not a grave head injury by the medics.
During those closing minutes of extra time, with Liverpool leading by a Diogo Jota first half opener, Patricio came out of his goal to close down Mohamed Salah as the Egyptian came in for a goal attempt. But, Patricio collided with team-mate Coady, who was also trying to get to Salah. The offside flag was subsequently raised against Salah before play was stopped for Patricio to get treated.
When he had been stabilised enough to be carried from the pitch on a stretcher, Santo brought in veteran English keeper John Gordon Ruddy, to take Patricio’s place between the sticks. After the game, Santo had a positive update on Patricio especially saying that the goalkeeper remembers the incident, which is often a good indication that his memory is intact.
Santo reported: “He’s OK. He’s conscious and remembers what happened. He’s aware and the doctor said he’s OK.
“It was a collision with Coady’s knee on the head, but we have spoken and he is OK. All these situations get all of us worried, but he is going to recover.”
Much of the worry revolves around the head-to-head collision between Wolves’ forward Raul Jimenez and Arsenal centre back David Luiz in November when the striker was also carried from the pitch on a stretcher. Jimenez needed surgery and some time on the sidelines to recover before returning to the Wolves squad. His absence affected the consistency in the side from which they are yet to recover.
Jota returned to his former club with Liverpool on Monday to deliver the goal that gave the Reds the much-welcomed victory over their Wanderers hosts and their second consecutive win on the road as they seek to arrest their recent nosedive in their pursuit for a place in European football next season.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp welcomed the victory in his post-match remarks, saying: “It was a big fight. If we want three dirty points, I’m fine with that. We had very good moments where we should have done better.
“Defensively the whole game was really good. I didn’t like the start, we weren’t active enough. We defended well, we counter-attacked. A lot of really good football moments.
“The goal we scored was beautiful. I thought the goalie would have saved it but it was in: A lot of good news tonight but most important, the three points.”
Patricio’s head injury will be a downer for Santo as he tries to keep the team focussed on the path ahead after two draws and two losses in their last four games, which can be discouraging for his charges given how well they were playing earlier in the season.
