Great sporting comebacks

As Eduardo marked his return to Arsenal with a couple of goals, we take a look back at some of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of sport

If you are going to look at sportsmen and women who have returned from injury, then no story is more impressive than that of American cyclist Lance Armstrong. In the space of six years, Armstrong seamlessly shifted through the gears from a 16-year-old professional triathlete to become one of the best cyclists in the world. By the time he was in his mid twenties Armstrong had already raced in the Olympics and won two stages of the Tour de France, but in 1996 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Leaving the sport, Armstrong underwent brain surgery and spent two years away from cycling. Then in 1998 he returned to racing which he dominated at an unprecedented level, winning the Tour de France a record-breaking seven times on the trot.

In December 1999 Dion Dublin suffered a life-threatening broken neck in a game against Sheffield Wednesday. There were doubts over whether the England striker would ever play again, but miraculously four months later on he came on as a substitute against Derby - albeit with a titanium plate fusing three vertebrae together. The following week Dublin completed a fairytale return by scoring a penalty against Bolton in the FA Cup semi-final, sending Villa to the final.

Chances are that while strapping his goalie pads on before Buffalo Sabers NHL match against St Louis Blues in 1989, Clint Malarchuk probably didn't think he would be involved in one of the most gruesome sporting injuries of all time. In a routine clash, Sabers defender Uwe Krupp collided with Steve Tuttle of St Louis. Unfortunately for Malarchuk, the impact of the collision knocked Tuttle off his feet and a spilt second later his skate had sliced Malarchuk's throat. An eighth of an inch higher and the goalie would have died inside two minutes. As it happened, he merely had blood spurting from his neck, causing three team-mates to vomit on the ice, nine spectators to faint, two of which had heart attacks. Malarchuk returned to practice four days later, having spent only one night in hospital. The following week he was back in goal for the Buffalo Sabers as they took on the Quebec Nordiques.

As the hockey stick flew through the air, England captain Craig Parnham barely had time to blink before it hit him square in the throat, shattering his larynx and leaving him unable to breathe. The accident in Malaysia nearly killed the England man, as Parnham had to be rushed to intensive care before being airlifted back to Britain. He underwent surgery and his larynx was rebuilt with a skin graft taken from his thigh. Months later he was back on the international scene.

How do you stop a six foot, seven inch, 360 pound American footballer? Throw a towel at him. Cleveland Browns' star offensive tackler Orlando Brown was felled during a match in 1999 when he was hit in the eye by a yellow flag, not dissimilar to a duster, thrown by a match official to indicate a penalty. The flag was weighed down by a ball bearing and Brown was almost blinded by the impact. As it would happen, Brown was the NFL's most expensive offensive lineman at the time, and sued the league for compensation. He received a reported $25 million settlement and returned in 2003 to play for the Baltimore Ravens.

Playing in the 1956 FA Cup final, Bert Trautmann, Manchester City's goalkeeper, dived at the feet of Birmingham City's Peter Murphy. In the melee Trautmann was hurt, but as no substitutes were allowed, Trautmann had to play on. The German goalie went on to make vital saves and preserved City's 3-1 lead. There were of course signs that something was wrong, none more telling than the fact that Trautmann's neck was crooked. Three days later an x-ray revealed he had been playing with a broken neck having dislocated five vertebrae, the second of which was cracked in two. He missed a large part of the following season but played until 1964 making 545 appearances.

Prior to the 1976 German Grand Prix, Niki Lauda was well on course to retain his World Championship title having won five of the nine races already completed. However, at the Nurburgring, Lauda's Ferrari suffered a suspected rear suspension failure sending the Austrian careening into the embankment and back out into the path of onrushing cars. Lauda's car was engulfed in flames and several other drivers stopped to try to pull him from the burning cockpit. Eventually he was freed, but not before he suffered extensive burns and inhaled toxic gases. Remarkably, despite being in a critical condition for a number of days, Lauda returned to racing within six weeks of the accident. He went on to win his second and third world titles in 1977 and 1984.

There's unlucky, there's really unlucky and then there's Djibril Cisse. After playing only 23 first-team games for new club Liverpool Cisse suffered a broken tibia and fibula in a tackle with Blackburn's Jay McEverly; the injury was so severe that Cisse feared he may have been forced to have his left leg amputated below the knee. Two years later Cisse suffered a similar injury, but this time to his right leg while on international duty with France. It was a double blow for the Frenchman as it forced him to miss his country's 2006 World Cup campaign. Despite these setbacks Cisse is still great goalscorer and is currently enjoying a successful spell at Sunderland.

Between 1990 and the start of 1993 Monica Seles won eight Grand Slam titles, putting her at the top of the women's game. However, Seles's life was changed forever in an incident at a tournament in Hamburg. Seles was beating Magdalena Maleeva 6–4, 4–3, when a fan burst from the crowd during a break between games and plunged a knife into her back, a blow that was witnessed by 6,000 spectators. Seles's physical injuries weren't severe but the psychological impact of the attack meant she did not return to competitive tennis until 1995 – more than two years after the stabbing. Seles capped an amazing comeback by beating Anke Huber in the final of the 1996 Australian Open to seal her ninth Grand Slam title.