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Dirty TackleDTotD: St. Etienne’s Kurt Zouma given 10-match ban for breaking opponent’s leg
St. Etienne centre-back Kurt Zouma has been on tremendous form of late, forming the backbone of Les Verts defence. The Ligue 1 side, however, will be without his services for a few months as the LFP (the French football association) have handed him a 10-match ban for a leg-breaking foul during his side's goalless visit to Sochaux last weekend.
In the 27th minute of Saturday's match, Zouma flew in with a tackle on Sochaux midfielder Thomas Guerbert, which fractured his right fibula and tibia, as well as dislocating his ankle. According to foot-national.com, Guerbert remained in hospital until Tuesday morning.
To be fair to Zouma, he did win the ball, but the virtues of the challenge are probably negated by the fact that he might have ended his opponent's career. The look of shock on Guerbert's face when he realizes what happened is terrifying and heartbreaking at the same time:
The LFP set a precedent for punishing tough-tacklers in March when Nice's Valentin Eysseric was forced to sit out for 11 matches following his bone-crunching slide on Zouma's St. Etienne teammate Jérémy Clément.
This has been the Dirty Tackle of the Day: a chronicling of unfortunate events.
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