EMILIANO MARTINEZ DESCRIBES PERMANENT FINGER DAMAGE

Emiliano Martinez said he played at the World Cup with a broken finger that has left his hand permanently disfigured. He said he suffered the injury during Aston Villa’s Europa League final victory over Freiburg. Martinez played for Argentina in the World Cup, which ended with a defeat by Spain in the final in New York. He said he still experiences pain each day, cannot fully close his fist and needs an operation.

Martinez said he feared he would miss the tournament in the United States after a doctor showed him an X-ray. Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni sent him a message: “Whether you make it or not, I’ll back you… come anyway”. Martinez said he decided against surgery before the tournament. Adidas made him a special glove, and he played with the injured finger wrapped, leaving him able to feel only four fingers.

Martinez said he trained with volleyballs because he could not use normal footballs until Argentina’s quarter-final against Switzerland. He rated the injury’s effect on his World Cup performance as “Ten out of ten”. He said contact between his hand and the ground caused severe pain, and swelling in the finger kept him crying until midnight. An X-ray after the tournament showed the finger was still broken, according to Martinez. Showing that he could not close the finger into a fist, he said: “It will stay like this for the rest of my life.”