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#3 Luc Nilis
Luc Nilis might be the least famous of the footballers on this list. But he enjoyed a fairly successful stint with Anderlecht and PSV, scoring at least 100 goals for each club.
However, his career was cut short soon after he embarked on a new challenge and arrived at Premier League club Aston Villa. In only his third game for his new team in 2000, the striker injured his shin in a nasty collision with Ipswich Town goalkeeper Richard Wright.
It was be the last time Nilis would feature as on the football field. Such was the extent of his injury that even amputation was considered at one point.
Years later, Nilis' voice trembled when recollecting that injury and its aftermath:
“I was in a dark place, a deep black hole. It was trauma. Some days, simply getting out of bed would be a struggle. It was not a messy split, but, yes, it came as a follow-up from the mental rollercoaster I had been on. When football was taken away from me, I missed it so much that I fell into the black gap. It was mental torture. Every day for a very long time.”
#2 Marco van Basten
Marco van Basten is one of the best strikers to have ever graced the game of football. A brilliant goal-scorer, van Basten was part of the star-studded AC Milan lineup in the late eighties. The Dutch footballer scored one of the most stunning goals in European Championship history in the 1988 final against the Soviet Union.
However, the three-time Serie A and Eredivisie winner suffered from a progressively worsening ankle injury, which multiple surgeries failed to rectify. Van Basten even took two years off from football and attempted an unsuccessful comeback in 1995.
The three-time Ballon d'Or winner (1988, 1989, 1992), who was at the peak of his career when he was injured, later recalled those dark days, saying:
“It was very difficult because I went from the highest level in football down to the lowest level of personal unhappiness,. It was a very big fall and a really dark time. Everything went down. There was a lot of pain and problems. You could say that in those five years I had my whole international career. After a lot of problems with operations I was limping. I couldn’t do anything without pain. I was really handicapped and the doctors couldn’t help me. I was a little afraid.”
After fearing the worst, Van Basten eventually called it quits at the age of 30. Commenting on his decision to retire from football, he said:
“It had gone from bad to worse. After many operations, and seeing doctors from all over the world, I had tried everything, but we couldn’t find the solution."
#1 Ronaldo Nazario
Ronaldo Nazario is widely renowned as one of the most lethal strikers to have ever graced football.
The youngest-ever Ballon d'Or winner announced himself on the European stage with a dazzling 35-goal season for PSV Eindhoven in 1994-95. For the precocious teenager, there would be no looking back from there.
Blessed with blistering pace and trickery on the ball, he would go on to play for some of the biggest clubs in the world, including Barcelona, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and AC Milan. Ronaldo scored many goals and won many big titles. His stunning 47-goal season in his lone campaign at Barca in 1996-97 being the best of the lot.
However, persistent knee injuries began to slow down the 2002 FIFA World Cup winner as he approached his thirties. In 2008, Milan were forced to release the footballer. Ronaldo was never the same player again as he called time on his legendary career three years later at Corinthians.
Luis Enrique, who played with the Brazilian at Camp Nou, said of Ronaldo:
“He’s the most spectacular player I’ve ever seen. He did things I’d never seen before. We’re now used to seeing Messi dribble past six players, but not then. He was strong, a beast.”
Ronaldo was almost 35 by the time he retired. But he could have achieved so much more if not for his injury woes.
