Hope yet for Cissé

By Simon Hart

When uefa.com met Djibril Cissé a fortnight ago, the challenge facing the French striker was a footballing one.

Feeling his way
The €21m man had scored three goals in his first 15 appearances for Liverpool FC and was still finding his way in the English game as he readily acknowledged. He was already "more combative and harder-working" than in France, however, and was optimistic that, after playing as a lone striker at AJ Auxerre, his nascent partnership with Milan Baroš would come good.

Effort to impress
"I hear a lot of people say we have the same style of play but I don't think so," he insisted. "We're two good players and it will come." In addition, Cissé was trying to impress a new manager in Rafael Benítez, having seen Gérard Houllier - with whom he been in contact for some two years - leave Anfield before his own arrival.

Double fracture
"You have to adapt," was Cissé's mantra yet those teething problems appear straightforward compared with the challenge he faces now. Three days after speaking to uefa.com, the 23-year-old suffered a double fracture of his left leg in the Premiership match at Blackburn Rovers FC - a horrific injury which means he will not play again this season.

Pin inserted
Cissé suffered fractures of the fibula and the tibia and subsequently had a pin inserted into the latter bone in an operation described as a "success" by a club spokesman. He is now out of hospital and was certainly missed on Saturday when, with Baroš also sidelined, youngsters Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Neil Mellor struggled as the Reds suffered their first home defeat of the season against Birmingham City FC.

Good authority
With Baroš their only recognised senior striker, Liverpool may seek reinforcements in the January transfer window, but for Cissé there will be no short cuts. Yet there is no reason why he cannot come back as good as before, certainly not according to one good authority on the subject, Swedish striker Henrik Larsson.

'Long road back'
The FC Barcelona player admitted that Cissé's injury revived memories of the night he broke his leg playing for Celtic FC at Olympique Lyonnais in 1999. "I have been there and I knew exactly what he was going through," said Larsson. "The fact is that it is a long road back and there aren't really any short cuts. But I made a great recovery, so I'd like Djibril to know that it is possible to come back as fit as before.

Advice
"The most important advice I could give to him right now is to accept what has happened," continued Larsson. "Your body can only start the healing process once you have accepted it in your mind. Once you accept this isn't something that can be made right overnight, you can get on with the hard work. Of course, you want to be up and running as soon as possible, but even though you want that, you have to hold back and go at the pace your body dictates.

Better than before
"There will be times when everything seems hopeless and you want to give up, but they are the times when you really need to knuckle down. The first three months aren't too bad because you make a lot of progress. The really tough part starts just after that because that is when the progress takes a pause." Larsson, of course, came back better than before and the hope is Liverpool will yet see the best of Cissé.

Additional reporting by Claire Nash