subject: Spain LIGA BBVA – Kakastrophe in Madrid [print this page] After investing 67 million Euros last year in Kaka, Real Madrid is living a real catastrophe with him; the talented Brazilian was only able to play 30 games last season, and things don't look much better this year, as he will not only lose the preseason, but at least the first three months of competition. The reason is the surgery procedure that he has just gone through in his left knee, which was done in Belgium on August 5th by Doctor Marc Martens.
This is not the first time that the 28 year old midfielder goes through surgery in the same knee, back in May of 2008 Dr. Jose Luis Runco conducted a procedure to treat him from tendonitis and some problems with the meniscus. That year Kaka was living the same situation as this one, when he lost the preseason and beginning of the season with his former club, A.C. Milan. Based on that past surgery where his recovery time was in between 3 to 4 months, the same time has been estimated for his healing time in this opportunity.
During the last two years Kaka has experienced the biggest amount of setbacks in his career. If we take a quick look at his medical record, we'll have to rewind back to 2000, when he fractured his sixth vertebra. In 2006 he suffered another inconvenience, this time he was out of competition during 5 weeks due to a muscular injury in his right leg. On February of 2008 he received a great impact on his knee, which caused him to go through the procedure that we mentioned before on May of 2008. On December of that same year he was diagnosed for the first time that he had a sports hernia, but it didn't cause him to stop playing. What did cause him to stop for two months in February of 2009 was an injury on his left ankle, and then on November the sports hernia that had already been diagnosed did cause him to stop during 5 weeks. A muscular contracture in his left leg kept him away from the fields during 43 days on March of 2010, and finally his most recent intervention on August 5th.
Kaka is the only player with whom the new coach, Portuguese Jose Mourinho, would not be able to count on for the beginning the season. The rest of Real Madrid's team is at his orders doing the preseason and focused to put an end to two years without titles. Questioned about Kaka's injury, Mourinho was clear and concise: "if we have to lose him for some time, there will be no drama, we have other players and that's it".
New faces
In a strong effort to stop living under the shadow of their archrival Barcelona, besides bringing a winner coach like Mourinho, Real Madrid has also signed Argentinean Di Maria, Spaniards Canales and Pedro Leon, and German Khedira. The team is looking strong, not just because of the new players, but mainly due to the reason that in every team that Mourinho has been, he has won championships. He is a coach with the capacity of bring out the best of each player, and that is probably one of the main reasons for the fans to start dreaming about the good old glory days.
