'Sliced open' - Coventry City boss reveals extent of Tatsu Sakamoto's shocking injury
Tatsuhiro Sakamoto has suffered what Coventry City manager Mark Robins described as a “nasty, nasty gash” to his left leg which will almost certainly rule him out of Saturday’s match with Sheffield Wednesday.
The Sky Blues' Japanese winger sustained the horrific looking injury early in the first half after making a sliding tackle on Tyrhys Dolan, only for the Blackburn Rovers’ forward to catch his studs on his opponent's leg. The 27-year-old immediately signalled to the bench and medical staff that he required attention, while his teammates Milan van Ewijk and Josh Eccles looked visibly shocked at the sight of the wound.
The club physio and doctor assessed him on the pitch before he was stretchered off and stitched at the stadium, where his teammates won 3-0 on the night, with goals from Jake Bidwell, Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante.
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And Robins confirmed afterwards: “He’s sliced his thigh! It has gone right down his thigh with his studs. You could see the stud marks around it, so they have sliced his thigh open.”
Asked if it was accidental or whether he had any complaints about it, he said: “I have not seen it back so I can’t comment on it but he has a nasty, nasty gash on his leg.”
Unable to put a time frame on how long he will be sidelined, the manger said: “I have no idea. It’s something that is going to have to settle down for him. But if he has a big laceration on his thigh, which was really deep apparently, so we just have to wait to see how it settles down. But he has been stitched.”