I played for Arsene Wenger then chose to have my leg amputated – I suffered every day just to line the pockets of others
BRUNO RODRIGUEZ decided to have his leg amputated after a successful football career riddled with injuries.
Rodriguez was passionate about the sport since a very young age growing up in Bastia and joined Monaco's reserves in 1989 at the tender age of 15.
The former striker rose through the ranks and made it to the senior squad in 1992 where he played with George Weah, Jurgen Klinsmann, Lilian Thuram, Emmanuel Petit, Youri Djorkaeff and Jean Tigana.
The Frenchman also performed under legendary Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger during his time at Monaco, before his glory years in the Premier League.
Rodriguez told : “It was an apprenticeship of extraordinary quality.
“George Weah took me under his wing, and Jurgen Klinsmann gave me advice: stay calm in front of goal, always be in motion, anticipate — little details which make the difference.”
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But that is when his injury hell began and it all kicked off with a bit of "showboating" that set an opponent off.
Rodriguez added: “I started to showboat. A player tackled me, shattering my ankle. That’s how it began.”
The 50-year-old left Monaco in 1993 and spent three years at his hometown club Bastia before his career really took off in 1997 with Metz.
The forward led the club to a stunning Ligue 1 title challenge that went to the wire until ultimately losing the championship to Lens in 1998 and almost landed a spot in France's World Cup-winning squad.
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But it all came with a cost as Rodriguez constantly required injections throughout his nomadic career, which also saw him spend a few months at Bradford on loan from Paris Saint-Germain in 1999.
It was after that short spell in England that the ex-PSG ace's leg started to experience excruciating pain and he believes it all goes down to club chiefs making him play while injured.
The former centre-forward claims his suffering took place just to "line the pockets of others".
Rodriguez said: "At every club I passed through, practically, I got injections.
“It happens in football: there’s a bit of an omerta about it, but everyone knows that it goes on.
"I was given them so I could play. If I’d been told it was bad for my health, I would have said no.
"But I’m not a doctor, I was young, I wanted to play because I was a competitor.” Always, every single match [I played through the pain].
“I should have been respected as a person, not treated like a vulgar piece of meat.
“I understand there are financial stakes, sporting stakes. But I regret that there was no one to say, ‘No, let’s not play an injured player, for the sake of his life after football.’
"How many ex-players are there with bad knees, bad ankles, bad backs, bad necks, headaches? How many find themselves at 60 or 70 unable to walk, to get up?”
Rodriguez added: ";Football and rugby are so popular; all that is secondary.
"People only see what glitters. They don’t see the physical sacrifices. People are losing their heads, for what, a ten-year sporting career, to win a few games? The life afterwards counts for what exactly?
"I was 33 when I ended my career, and I’ve suffered every day since then. My wife will vouch for me.
"I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t go out. All that, for what? To line the pockets of others? Because that’s what it comes down to.”
Rodrigez retired at the age of 33 and was dealing with such unbearable pain he made the tough decision to amputate his right leg below the knee last year.
The Frenchman went through a long and hard rehabilitation period until he learned how to walk again with a prosthetic leg and regain his happiness.
Rodrioguez said: "The first day with the prosthetic, that’s really something.
“All those years, I was either walking with a stick or lying on my back. At the rehab centre, I had been in a wheelchair.
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"To suddenly find myself standing up, with a leg that I could walk on . . . [There was a sense of] liberation, and also knowing that it hasn’t been for nothing.
"You’re at the end of the tunnel, you’re not in pain any more. When I got up and I took my first steps, I took a video and sent it to my wife and my children, my friends. I was happy.”