‘Never lost trust’: PL star’s ‘miracle’ road back from near-death injury that rocked football world

There are few feel-good stories in world football this season as heartwarming as that of Raul Jimenez at Fulham.

In November 2020, the Mexican striker – then playing for Wolves – suffered a horrific head injury after colliding with Arsenal’s David Luiz.

Jimenez was stretchered off the field with an oxygen mask and taken to a London hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery on a fractured skull and a life-threatening brain bleed.

“They told me it was like a miracle to be there,” he previously revealed of conversations with doctors after the surgery.

“[There was] the skull fracture, the bone broke and there was a little bit of bleeding inside the brain. It was pushing my brain to the inside and that is why the surgery had to be quick. It was a really good job by the doctors.”

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Jimenez was hospitalised for ten days and had no memory of the match – probably a good thing, given the sickening nature of that head clash.

“You start hearing ‘code red’,” then-Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo said after the match.

“It was a bad moment. What was the reaction? Panic, panic panic. You could see the faces on the teammates. It was a serious situation. It’s awful and terrible.”

The incident was also a major wake-up call in football’s treatment of head injuries, with Luiz allowed to play until halftime despite receiving seven stitches on a nearly eight centimetre wound – with blood continuing to seep through the bandaging as the match continued.

England great Alan Shearer said on BBC’s Match of the Day: “If David Luiz has passed all the protocols like Arsenal say he has, how on earth is he allowed back on to the pitch with a wound that is