OLEKSANDR ZINCHENKO came close to having his leg AMPUTATED as a teenager due to frostbite.
The Arsenal full-back, 27, made his name at Manchester City from 2016 to 2022, winning four Prem titles, four Carabao Cups and one FA Cup.
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Oleksandr Zinchenko almost lost his leg due to frostbiteCredit: Getty
He has also gone on to captain Ukraine at major tournaments and recently helped the Gunners become top-flight title challengers once more under Mikel Arteta.
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But at the age of 17, his entire life could have changed thanks to a dry ice incident that left the defender with a gangrenous foot and moments away from amputation.
It came about following a call from German club Hoffenheim to attend a trial, having been frozen out of the Shakhtar Donetsk academy and trying to reignite his career while taking part in the Russian street leagues.
He explained: “The day before I was due to fly [to Germany], FC Meteor, one of the non-league clubs I played for, called me. They had a big game and wanted me to fill in.
“These leagues were a bit rogue, sometimes more like a cage fight. Some opponent did a crazy tackle on me and caught my right ankle. It swelled up like a balloon.
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“There was no way I could play the next day in Germany. Just walking was causing me pain. I was in no state to do a trial. But I couldn’t cancel and lose this life-changing opportunity.
“We decided I would go anyway and ask them to let me train a couple of days later, by which time the swelling would have hopefully gone down.
“I was on the plane with Lufthansa and I remember thinking: ‘Let’s not waste time to get the swelling down. Let’s use the flight.’ So, I asked the stewardess for some ice for my ankle.
“She didn’t understand me at first because my English wasn’t great and I didn’t speak any German. But she came over with what looked like ice in a plastic package.
“I wrapped it up, put it on my ankle and went to sleep. Problem solved. An hour or so later, I woke up and expected to see a bag full of melted water. But there was none.
Mystery as Kai Havertz denied chance to make Arsenal history but Mikel Arteta has no idea why it happened
“Then I looked at my ankle. All the skin had turned white. I put my sock back on
and, within around 20 minutes, as it warmed up, it started to blister.
“When we arrived in Frankfurt, an associate of my agent was waiting. ‘I have a little problem,’ I told him. I think I gave him the shock of his life when I showed him my ankle.
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“We drove to the Hoffenheim academy, taken immediately to a physio, who pulled down my sock and turned nearly as white as the skin on my ankle when he saw it.
“His reaction told me this was bad. ‘We’re taking you to hospital, right now.’ I was rushed into an operating theatre and surgery commenced immediately.
“They were removing gangrenous tissue. If that had spread, it could have affected the whole foot, requiring it all to be removed. The reason? I had frostbite.
“It turned out that when the air stewardess gave me ice, it was dry ice, which is three times colder than normal ice, exposing my bare ankle to Arctic-like temperatures.
“The German doctor looked at me gravely. ‘You are fortunate. You came at the right time. Any later, and you might have lost your leg.’
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“Only then did I realise quite how close my dreams had come to ending and my life changing utterly.”
After his near-death experience and a spell in the Russian Premier League, Zinchenko spent six seasons at City before joining Arsenal in the summer of 2022 for £35m.
However, Zinchenko has also revealed he could have played for the North Londoners much sooner with Arsene Wenger keeping tabs on his situation back in 2014 following a Youth Champions League clash between Arsenal and Shakhtar.
Zinchenko said: “I got a call from an agent who said: ‘Alex, I have a very good connection with Arsene Wenger. He called me after your game. He really wants to see you in the club.
“I was speechless; my jaw was on the floor. When I gathered my thoughts after a few seconds, I said: ‘This is probably a joke. Someone is having a laugh here.’
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“For one reason or another, it never happened. I had sort of forgotten about this whole thing until Wenger came to the Emirates in December 2022 to watch us beat West Ham 3-1.
“I shook his hand. I had never met him in person before… ‘Mister, eight years ago, I played for Shakhtar Donetsk in a Youth League game against Arsenal…’ I said, cautiously.
“He interrupted me. ‘Yes, it was at Boreham Wood. Arsenal won 3-1. And after 20 minutes, I pointed at you and said: “I need this guy.”‘ It was all true. Incredible.
“I sometimes imagine what would have happened if I had joined the first team as a 17-year-old.”
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Oleksandr Zinchenko joined Manchester City back in 2016Credit: AFP or licensors
GIANT policeman Geoff Capes, who became Britain’s best-loved strongman, has died aged 75.
Shot putter Capes — who stood 6ft 5½in and weighed 26st — represented Great Britain at three Olympics.
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Despite his strongman persona, Geoff Capes’ hobby was breeding budgerigars which he held gently in his giant handsCredit: Getty
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Geoff Capes of Great Britain competing in the men’s shot put event during the Summer Olympic Games in Montreal 1976.Credit: Getty
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Geoff won the 1983 World’s Strongest Man competitionCredit: Rex
He was Commonwealth champion and European champion twice and since 1980 has been the country’s shot put record holder with a throw of 21.68metres.
But the star was best known as the World’s Strongest Man, who could tear London phone directories in half and bend three-foot long, one-inch diameter steel bars.
But remarkably, his hobby was breeding budgerigars which he held gently in his giant hands.
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And he became the president of the Budgerigar Society and was never happier than when he won the world budgie championship and travelled the globe judging bird shows.
Last night fans took to social media to pay tribute to the beloved strongman.
I was a hell of a fighter as well. If the next town came down on a Friday and there were only eight or nine of them I’d say, ‘Go back and get some more.
Geoff on his youth
One said on X: “I watched him as a young man — my sincerest condolences to his family and friends, we’ll miss you Geoff.”
Another added: “Sad to hear the passing of Geoff Capes. A fixture growing up on our TV and during athletics coverage.”
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Geoffrey Lewis Capes was born in 1949 in Holbeach, Lincs, the seventh of nine children.
And trouble was never far away.
He remembered: “I was a hell of a fighter as well. If the next town came down on a Friday and there were only eight or nine of them I’d say, ‘Go back and get some more.’
VW Polo from 3848 advert featuring Geoff Capes advert from 1983
“I’d fight them on my own. I was quite quiet, but there was an inner aggression.
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“My headmaster, a guy called Joe Fathers, took great pleasure in trying to knock it out of me. He had a choice of canes.
“On the last day I went into his office, I took the canes off the wall in the office in front of him and walked out.”
Gifted sportsman
Geoff’s salvation was Holbeach Athletic Club where he was coached by BBCathletics commentator Stuart Storey.
A gifted sportsman, Capes represented Lincolnshire at basketball, football and cross-country. But shot put was where he could channel the chip on his shoulder.
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Capes said: “I threw in bare feet in a concrete circle — and came second from last.”
Capes would hitch-hike to athletics competitions and was told by Storey that he would achieve great things if he could just direct his energy.
But growing up in the Lincs fens Geoff had a softer side — he was fascinated by the natural world and cared for injured birds and animals.
After leaving school he worked as a coalman and an agricultural labourer before joining Cambridgeshire Constabulary in 1970. He served in the force for ten years.
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He was allowed time off to compete at athletics meetings, but on a copper’s salary he could barely afford a daily diet that included six pounds of red meat, a dozen eggs and a large tin of baked beans.
He also consumed two tins of pilchards, one and a half pounds of cottage cheese, a packet of cereal, two large loaves of bread with a pound of butter. All washed down with a pint of orange juice and seven pints of milk.
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Capes went on to become the most capped British male athlete of all time, with 67 international credits, and in 1983 he was voted Britain’s best-ever field athleteCredit: Getty
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The strongman appearing in the kids’ TV programme ‘Supergran’Credit: Rex
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In a recent interview Capes said: ‘I enjoyed my life and I went around the world. How many people can say that?’Credit: Rex
In his last interview he said: “I ate like a f***ing horse! Anything I could get my hands on. But nearly all protein.”
Capes, who would lift 120 tons in training each week, did sponsorship deals that helped him to bypass the Olympics’ strict amateur rules.
He had advertising slogans “Butcher Brown is the best in town” and his Talbot Estate car displayed “Dewhurst: Master Butchers” on the side.
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Capes went on to become the most capped British male athlete of all time, with 67 international credits, and in 1983 he was voted Britain’s best-ever field athlete.
Just before his last Olympics, Moscow 1980, he won Britain’s first strongest man competition and became a household name. Tests of strength such as bending steel bars, lifting a platform of bunny girls, pulling lorries, arm wrestles and tug of war gave the show cult status.
And Capes was soon in demand for everything from 17 pantomime appearances and children’s TV to performances at the London Palladium with Bobby Davro and TV ads.
By 1983 he was officially the world’s strongest man but the following year lost the title to Jón Páll Sigmarsson.
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The Icelander who was 11 years younger, taunted: “The King has lost his crown!”
But Geoff swore: “I’ll be back.” The next year he took the title and roared: “The King has not lost his crown!”
Once, at Scotland’s Braemar Games, he used so much resin competing that when he was congratulated by the late Queen, their hands stuck together, causing Her Majesty to roar with laughter.
Geoff’s son Lewis and daughter Emma were both shot putters, while two of his grandchildren, Donovan, 19, and Lawson, 15, train at the shot put ring Capes built in his home village of Stoke Rochford, Lincs.
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In a recent interview he said: “I enjoyed my life and I went around the world. How many people can say that?”
Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock called the trio “exceptional” and said they “constantly allowed Barcelona to play”.
Casado, who Warnock said had a natural “understanding of how to read danger” was the deepest of the three midfielders, shielding the defence and winning the ball back for his side.
The former Barcelona B captain only made his first Barcelona start this season, but has become a regular for Haasi Flick’s side, getting the nod in all of their Champions League matches this term, and came up with an assist on Wednesday.
“Casado played twice for Xavi last season and Xavi was told if you put Casado in the team enough, he wouldn’t come out of it,” added Balague.
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“Xavi thought he was too short for a holding midfielder, but he’s in now.”
Just ahead of Casado was Pedri, already a superstar and a true champion of the transition, constantly receiving the ball off his defenders and playing it forward.
Pedri joined Barca from Las Palmas in 2020 at the age of 16, won the Golden Boy award in 2021 and, that same year, ended up signing a contract extension which included a 1bn euro (£846m) release clause.
ABU DHABI – Dan Ige shuts down the notion that he should have been awarded a bigger fight at UFC 308.
Ige (18-8 MMA, 10-7 UFC) faces Lerone Murphy (14-0-1 MMA, 6-0-1 UFC) on Saturday’s main card at Etihad Arena (pay-per-view, ESPN+).
Ige is coming off a short-notice loss to Diego Lopes at UFC 303 in June, where he stepped in on just four hours’ notice. Ige was promised a spot on UFC 306, but that didn’t pan out. Instead, he draws undefeated Murphy, but Ige sees many perks in that fight.
“I understand the perspective, but I see this as a reward,” Ige told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s UFC 308 media day. “I get to fight a guy above me in the rankings. Yes, he’s undefeated, he’s been tested against worthy contenders, but it comes down to self-belief.
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“Belief in myself and my team. I believe we have the game plan to beat him, and that’s the beauty of this sport. Anything can happen in MMA so, I’m going to look to go out there and be the first person to beat Lerone Murphy, and I truly believe I could do so.”
Ige rates Murphy’s skills highly, but thinks one major thing separates them.
“I believe we’re pretty similar in a lot of ways as far as our abilities to fight out of both stances,” Ige said. “He’s a little longer, a little more methodical with his movements, and his feints. I definitely believe there’s a pretty big power differential.
“I’m not going to go out there and look to only land big power shots, but I think you’ll see that difference in the fight. When I hit him vs. when he hits me. It’s going to be a great fight, I can’t wait to go out there and test myself against a guy like Lerone.”
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For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 308.
Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.
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NICKELFORCE (1.40 Ludlow, nap).
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He was a big improver on chase debut for trainer Ben Case at Stratford last time. He jumped well and tanked along in winning by five lengths so a 6lb rise looks fair.
TEMPER TRAP (5.00 Nottingham, nb)
Has won his past two in testing conditions. He wasn’t stopping at the end of seven furlongs at Redcar last time so this mile holds no fears. Tim Easterby’s hope can land the hat-trick under 4lb penalty.
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LOVE DYNASTY (2.03 Nottingham, treble)
Stormed through the mud to score on debut at Newmarket. He’s been off a year since that effort but he looked a hot prospect for William Haggas.
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OPERA KING (4.30 Ludlow)
Completes the Lucky 15. He went close at Market Rasen last month and a 3lb rise in the weights isn’t a problem.
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Match of the Day pundits reflect on Vinicius Junior’s performance in Real Madrid’s thrilling 5-2 comeback victory against Borussia Dortmund and discuss whether the Brazilian will win this year’s Ballon d’Or.
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