Pape Souare makes Crystal Palace return almost a year after horror car crash

Return: Pape Souare in action for Crystal Palace Under-23s
Twitter/CPFC
Alex Young @alexwsyoung29 August 2017

Pape Souare has made his first appearance for Crystal Palace since a horror car crash almost a year ago.

The defender broke his thighbone and jaw in an incident on the M4 in September 2016 and was airlifted to hospital.

Souare played 45 minutes on Tuesday as Palace's Under-23s side lost 2-1 to Nottingham Forest, with the defender missing a chance to score with a header in the first half.

After the game, the 27-year-old thanked the medical team who helped him through his rehabilitation.

“It was very nice to be back playing at Selhurst Park and I really enjoyed it," he told the club's official website.

"I have been working hard with the medical team and it’s great that I am able to be back today and playing forty-five minutes.

"I played at wing-back today, but I feel comfortable in that position because I have played there before but now it is about working hard to keep getting my fitness to the level it needs to be so I am ready to challenge for the first team squad when I can."

He continued: "This is my first main injury I have had since playing football and really I am just delighted to be in a position to be playing.

"I was always focussed on my rehab and always believed that one day I would be back. I knew that after my operation I would have to work hard to make sure that I was strong enough to play.

"It has been a long journey so it is pleasing to have played half of this game."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT