Former Newcastle and Chelsea striker Demba Ba has suffered a horrific leg break in the Chinese Super League derby clash between Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG.
The 31-year-old Shenhua striker went down after a seemingly innocuous tangle of legs with SIPG captain Sun Xiang in the 64th minute but it was immediately apparent that the Senegalese had broken his left leg.
The sickening pictures – that bring back bad memories of Eduardo’s horror break from Martin Taylor’s challenge or the injury inflicted by Ryan Shawcross on Aaron Ramsey – show as Ba goes over his leg is at right angles to where it should be.
The challenge from Xiang was clumsy but not sinister and the Shenhua frontman comes into difficulty when his studs get caught in the ground as he body twists towards the turf.
A stumble from the former China international seems cause the break as he makes contact with Ba’s ankle but the severity of the injury only becomes apparent once the striker goes down.
With Ba looking set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines Shenhua will miss his nous in front of goal.
Shenhua went on to beat the Red Eagles 2-1 with late goals from Yunding Cao and former Inter Milan midfielder Fredy Guarin but Ba’s condition will be of serious concern to the club.
Ba is the top scorer in the Chinese Super League, with 14 goals in 18 games that have fired the Flower of Shanghai to fifth in the table.
Ba moved to China from Turkish side Besiktas in June 2015, scoring 12 goals in 16 games during his first season at the Hongkou Football Stadium.
