Emiliano Martínez spoke about his broken finger at the World Cup.
Martínez commented on his broken finger and how he thought he was not going to play at the World Cup with the Argentina national team. Speaking in an interview with LosEdul, here is what he had to say:
“I hurt my finger in the Europa League final. I go to the hospital and they tell me: ‘Your finger is broken in half.’ They show me the picture. I say: ‘No, I won’t make it to the World Cup.’ I start to cry.
“And I remember Scaloni sending me a message and saying: ‘Whether you arrive or not, I’m going to support you, come anyway.
“So, I informed the national team doctor and we decided against surgery, and I would play with a plastic cast, all bandaged up. And Adidas made me a special glove.
“The first few days went well, the first two games, because I was playing with so much protection… And I started playing like that. Of course, I could feel four fingers.
“I can close this hand properly, but not the other. I was training with volleyballs until before Switzerland; I couldn’t train normally. We almost lost to Egypt, and I told Martín Tocalli, ‘Let’s train normally, with a normal ball.’ We almost got knocked out.
“The World Cup ended, I went on vacation, and my finger was hurting. I got an X-ray and it was broken in half. Someday I’ll need surgery to reduce the pain; I’m still playing through it.
“How much did it affect me in the World Cup? Ten. Before Algeria, I was just flopping around with one arm, I was a zombie. Putting my hand on the ground was like seeing stars. The jaw injury compared to the finger injury is a one in terms of how bad it was.
“During training camp, I was crying because my finger looked like a sausage.”
