Wolves star Raul Jimenez insists that he bears no ill will towards David Luiz for his part in the serious head injury that threatened the Mexico international's career.
Jimenez suffered a fractured skull and severe head trauma after clashing with the then-Arsenal defender in November 2020, missing almost a year of action as a result.
But he is now back for both club and country and determined to put the horrendous incident behind him.
What was said?
"One of their players goes to the front post and passes in front of me,” Jimenez told Mexico's W Radio as he prepares for his El Tri comeback in the current international break.
"If I didn’t take that step, I wouldn’t jump backwards, and I would have jumped in front of him.
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"Jumping backwards, he caught me loose. I take 100 per cent of the blame off David Luiz; he was going with the intention of heading the ball; unfortunately, it was on my head."
The striker also admitted that his memory of the clash remains hazy, and that he is trying to reconstruct the events with the help of his Wolves colleagues.
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"I’ve seen it (the incident) several times. I asked the video people and the social media people at the club if they had different shots of the incident," he added.
"I don’t remember anything; I remember that we arrived at the stadium, that I went out to see the pitch, I went into the dressing room to change and then the lights went out.
"I don’t remember when the match started, nor the corner kick or the blow.
"Being in the hospital. I was conscious when I was in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, but I don’t remember that; I don’t remember after the operation.
"I have memories of things I did in the hospital, that they brought me my food, that they stopped me from walking, but it’s not much either."
Back with El Tri
Jimenez's last Mexico appearance came shortly before his injury in November 2020, when he scored in a 2-0 friendly victory over Japan.
He now returns in the middle of El Tri's World Cup qualification campaign, with the nation currently leading the final round ahead of games against Canada, Honduras and El Salvador in the coming week.
"I'm happy to be back after so long, with the issue of the injury and not being able to make it last time," he said.
"We are working to make it a great comeback. You never expect an injury like that, it happened for a reason but I always had the strength to return."
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