Empics

Impact: Martin Taylor's tackle left Eduardo facing a year out with a terrible injury.

Eduardo broke his left fibula and suffered an open dislocation of the left ankle on February 23, 2008 in Arsenal's 2-2 draw against Birmingham at St Andrews.

There was concern that the injury could end Eduardo's career, but he battled back with what Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger described as a ''mountain'' of mental strength, and completed his return on Monday when he scored twice in the Gunners' 4-0 FA Cup fourth round replay win over Cardiff City.

However, in an interview in The Sun the 25-year-old said he is still surprised that almost a year on Taylor has yet to apologise.

''Some friends told me he was saying he'd spoken to me - but he never did. I've never met him,'' said Eduardo. "And someone at Arsenal received an email from him when I played for the reserves at Barnet a short while back and it said he was pleased I was playing again.

''I have received lots of mail from other people. I've had around 25,000 emails - from Croatia, Brazil and England - wishing me a speedy recovery and I've had letters by the sack-full. But he's never sent anything directly to me.''

Taylor was sent off for the tackle and has only ever been contrite following the accident and even tried to visit Eduardo in hospital in the immediate aftermath of the injury only to find that the Arsenal man was undergoing surgery.

He told the Daily Mail: ''I went to the hospital on Saturday night. I saw Arsenal's liaison officer there. I'm glad I saw someone from the club but Eduardo was in no fit state to see me then.

''I went back again on Sunday morning when he was recovering from the operation. I saw him face-to-face but he was obviously under the influence of a lot of drugs. I don't know whether he was aware I was there or not. But the same employee from the club was still there. With the language barrier, it was difficult to communicate.''

Unfortunately for both players it seems that Taylor's efforts to apologise were lost on Eduardo, resulting in the story once again being played out in the tabloids, largely to the detriment of the Birmingham defender who was subjected to death threats over the incident.