England vs Belgium: Gary Cahill reveals Dries Mertens apology after dream-shattering injury

PA
Simon Johnson26 June 2018

Gary Cahill has revealed that Belgium star Dries Mertens issued a personal apology to him in March - six years after ruining his dream of playing at Euro 2012.

The two players are in line to face each other when England take on Belgium in their final game in Group G at the World Cup on Thursday.

It will be the first time they have been on opposing sides since the two countries met in a friendly on the eve of Euro 2012 and Cahill suffered a fractured jaw.

The injury was caused after Mertens pushed the England centre half into keeper Joe Hart and the damage ruled him out of the Championships that summer.

While Mertens said sorry soon afterwards on his Twitter account, the two players have never had a chance to discuss the incident in person until the Belgian happened to be eating at the same restaurant in Dubai while they were both on holiday three months ago.

Cahill said: “It’s a nice story. He came over when I was in a restaurant and apologised for that situation.

“For me it was dead and buried but I respected him a hell of a lot for doing that. It wasn’t something he had to do. He didn’t know me and I didn’t even know he was in there.

“Did we shake hands? Yes. I just said ‘thank you, it’s finished with’. But I think that shows the guy that he is, he is a decent fella.

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“He didn’t need to do it. There’s no way he meant to do that damage for me to miss the tournament. That’s football. Unfortunately for me, there were consequences. It was a great gesture.”

When asked if he held a grudge against Mertens at the time in June 2012 for effectively ending his hopes of playing in his first major tournament, he added: “It had big consequences for me after the game. I was going to be on the plane and it was a huge time for me. I felt I would have started that tournament with the age I was at and the form I was in.

“It was a huge blow and it took a while to get over during the summer. But at the same time, I like to see the good in people. I don’t think he did that for that reason.

“How many times do you get frustrated, shove someone out of the way (and nothing like that happens)? It’s just one of those things.

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“It was a freak situation. I hit Joe, probably one of the worst people to collide with in that situation because his shoulders are like that.

“I don’t think he (Mertens) was thinking ‘I’m going to push him and break his jaw’. I held no grudges against him, I was just really disappointed with my situation. So for him to take time out after all these years and say that, I really respect him.”

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