Diatta relief at test results

Monday 28 November, 2005

Lyon defender Lamine Diatta has escaped a worst-case scenario after tests revealed his leg injury to be nothing more than a blood clot.

The Senegal international feared he had broken his tibia after a heavy tackle from Nice's Bill Tchato on Saturday, an injury which would have kept him out of the African Cup of Nations in Egypt next January and February.

"After the challenge I went straight to hospital for tests," explained the 30-year-old. "I thought the worst because the doctors were saying it was a fracture. Because of that, I was very frightened.

"But as long as you haven't done the tests, you can't really know. And it's no exaggeration to say I was very relieved when I came out of the examination room."

Diatta will nonetheless be sidelined for at least a week, while his teammate Jérôme Berthod – who was also injured in the Nice game – has a muscular problem in his left thigh and will undergo an MRI scan today.