Ben Davies has said André Gomes’ horrific injury deeply affected everyone in the Tottenham and Everton teams on Sunday but Son Heung-Min did not intentionally hurt the Portugal international.
Gomes will undergo surgery on Monday to repair a fracture dislocation to his right ankle. The former Barcelona and Valencia midfielder sustained the injury after being fouled by Son in the 1-1 draw at Goodison Park, although it was a combination of an awkward landing and collision with Serge Aurier in the aftermath that caused the fracture.
Players from both teams were visibly distraught as Gomes received treatment on the pitch before being taken to Aintree Hospital. Everton equalised in time added-on mainly for the injury and Davies, the Spurs captain on the day, admitted it was difficult to remain focused afterwards.
Davies said: “It does affect you. It’s not the first time it has happened to me in a game, it happened when Seamus Coleman suffered a bad injury for Ireland [against Wales] as well. It shakes you up, it really does. It doesn’t matter if it’s your team-mate or not. You can see the emotion across the pitch.
“Nobody goes on the pitch to hurt anyone, especially not somebody like Son who is a bit broken dealing with what has happened. The team just have to sometimes say these things happen in football and, as horrible as it is, they do. For us it is just hoping André Gomes is ok now.”
Son was initially booked by referee Martin Atkinson but then red carded for what the Premier League later clarified as: “endangering the safety of a player which happened as a consequence of his initial challenge.” The Spurs manager, Mauricio Pochettino, did not rule out the possibility of an appeal against the dismissal after the game.
“Son is really shaken up,” added Davies. “He’s down about what happened. I speak for everyone when I say sympathy for Gomes, I hope he’s alright. We will try to pick him [Son] up as much as we can. It’s tough right now. It’s just about making sure that he realises he didn’t go out there to hurt anyone, he thinks that people may see that in him but it’s not the case.
“It’s one of those things. There were probably three more tackles that were worse than the incident that happened. It’s a freak moment in football. Son can’t let himself be too down about it.”
theguardian.com