Demba Ba suffers freak injury

Ahorrific injury to Demba Ba cast a long shadow over Sunday’s Shanghai derby between Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG.The atmosphere was tense after Shenhua’s local rivals had taken the lead, but a little after the hour mark the stadium was plunged into a state of shock as Demba Ba’s leg caught with Sun Xiang’s as the pair contested the ball.

The result was an awful fracture of the Senegalese’s left leg, the lower shin visibly snapping away from the rest of the limb and leaving the striker facing at least an eight-month lay off.The faces on the pitch and in the dugout’s left no doubt as to the seriousness of the injury, and the player, clearly in agony, was rushed to hospital in an ambulance.

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Ba’s manager, the Spaniard Gregorio Manzano, referred to it as ‘the most bitter-tasting victory of my career’.Shanghai Shenhua’s star, who joined the club from Chelsea, has shone this season and currently leads the Chinese Super League’s top scorers’ list with 14 goals.Ba’s team mates did however recover from the shock of losing their striker and the 1-0 disadvantage, scoring an equaliser late on and a winner via a penalty deep into the substantial injury time.