Galatasaray defender lost his vision when a firework exploded in his face – 13 months and 11 surgeries later he is playing again
“I can’t see, I can’t see,” Omar Elabdellaoui shouted at a friend after a firework exploded in his face on New Year’s Eve 2020. Gunpowder and metal had penetrated his skin and eyeballs and his jacket was burning. His wife, Anne, ran to help put out the flames but the devastation was obvious. It was to be the start of a long road to recovery for the Galatasaray defender, who is in the frame to make a miraculous first-team return on Saturday after 11 surgeries to restore his vision, having been clinically blind.
“I just thought I had something in my eye and had to clear it out but then I felt my face totally burning and everything was black,” Elabdellaoui recalls. He was in the garden preparing to light a third firework with friends and family, including his three children, when it went off prematurely as he tried to light the fuse. An ambulance came within minutes but Istanbul’s size meant it took a long time to reach the hospital. By the time Elabdellaoui arrived, journalists and teammates were waiting – the story had travelled fast across social media once a photo of his badly burned face, taken in the ambulance, was posted.
