Worrying cases of Denis Zakaria, Neco Williams and Alireza Beiranvand illustrate the dangers of football’s current protocols
While he was critical of his own Premier League debut in the wake of Chelsea’s win against Bournemouth last Tuesday, the general consensus in post-match musings across the media were that Denis Zakaria had acquitted himself well. More than a little alarming was the fact that few, if any, of those assessing the Switzerland international’s performance at Stamford Bridge seemed to notice that he should almost certainly have been withdrawn from the field of play when the game was only 20 minutes old.
Helping the hosts defend a corner, Zakaria tracked a run from Kieffer Moore across Chelsea’s penalty area and appeared to whack his head off the Bournemouth striker’s hip as he leaped to challenge for the inswinging delivery to the near post. As Chelsea cleared the ball, Zakaria crumpled to the ground where he lay prone and possibly unconscious for the best part of 90 seconds. Having received treatment from a two-man medical team while his visibly concerned teammates Kepa Arrizabalaga and Kalidou Koulibaly looked on, Zakaria was eventually lifted to his feet looking anything but compos mentis.
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