‘It was accidental. He threw out his leg and hit me’: Villarreal’s Yeremy Pino on Dani Carvajal injury

“It’s a complicated episode. I try to touch the ball as little as possible to get it out. I don’t think I even touch it. But in the end, he [Dani Carvajal] throws out his leg, he hits me… It’s fortuitous, but it’s a shame because of the moment he was in, how important he is for us [Spain’s national team] and for [Real] Madrid. I think he’s an example for Spanish football and it’s difficult to see how he suffered on the pitch because I’ve also experienced it and it’s complicated,” Villarreal winger Yeremy Pino has told El Desmarque, via Diario AS.

“I fell because he kicked me and it hurt, but when I heard it, I said: ‘Something happened there’. And on top of that, in the knee… You know when you have something in your knee, you feel that ‘clack’. And when he said it, my head filled with ghosts again. Of the last two games I’ve played [against Real Madrid and against Barcelona], this has happened to me in both of them. You try to avoid it a bit, not to think about it, but it’s complicated,” the 21-year-old added.

Yeremy Pino was inconsolable and ‘couldn’t stop crying’ after Carvajal challenge – he had an ACL injury last year

Weeks before facing Real Madrid in La Liga, Yeremy Pino also witnessed how Marc-Andre ter Stegen picked up an ACL injury mid-game. Pino himself suffered a cruciate ligament surgery in November 2023, having forced to spend over 200 days on the sidelines.

Dani Carvajal suffered a season-ending injury against Villarreal.