Saul Niguez Overcame Life-Ending Injury to Become a Superstar

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Atletico Madrid’s impact midfielder Saul Niguez has shockingly revealed was ready to lose a kidney two years ago just so that he does not have to stay out of the Atletico Madrid team for a month.

The 22-year-old will be lining up for Atletico against Chelsea in the Champions League tonight, but forget playing in the Champions League, the Spanish youngster had no certainty of his career after he was kicked straight around the kidney area in a match against Bayer Leverkusen by defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos.

Saul had previously undergone surgery for renal colic and spent four days in the hospital whereas the doctors literally drained his kidney. But, that was only the beginning of his troubles.

Speaking to ​Daily Mail, Saul described his condition and said, “I had an internal catheter fitted and I had to take care. It left me sore and I was peeing blood. When I stopped using the catheter the kidney was still not working.”

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He continued, “I was given the option of playing for a month and then stopping for a month and so I said: ‘This is no good. If you can put the catheter in again and I can function normally then let’s do that, but if not then just take the kidney out. It’s fine. I’ve got another one’.”

However, Diego Simeone’s assistant manager German Burgos’ intervention made Saul realise the danger he was in. Saul said, “He (Burgos) told me I had to try other things. I said to him, ‘I’m tired of all this I want to get back to playing well and feeling well. I can’t be thinking about what might happen if I get another kick.”

Saul was given a life-lesson by German in his last comment as he told the talented midfielder, “Saul you are 22! What happens if you have a problem in the other kidney? Use your head. You can’t just think about the football. You have to think about your future.”

Saul has had a quiet start to the new campaign as he has played nine games for Atletico Madrid and has just come up with one assist for his team.

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