With Ryan Mason still in the hospital after his nasty clash of heads with Gary Cahill, the Hull City squad is rallying around its English midfielder.
The club was set to take on Manchester United in the second leg of the FA Cup semifinal at the KCOM, and in the prematch warmups, they showed their support. The entire squad donned Mason’s shirt during warmups, all wearing his 25 shirt with his name on the back.
The 25-year-old banged heads with Chelsea defender Cahill on an aerial challenge in the Chelsea box during their Premier League meeting over the weekend, a match which saw Chelsea win comfortably 2-0. He was taken off on a stretcher and given oxygen, while Cahill was able to come off unscathed. He underwent surgery in the West London hospital that night for a fractured skull, and has been hospitalized since.
The fans held a minute’s applause for Mason in the 25th minute of the game against Manchester United, and Hull immediately responded with the first big chance of the game.
The former Tottenham midfielder also received a visit from his old manager Mauricio Pochettino earlier today, the Spurs manager said. Pochettino was watching the game live on television from Barcelona where the squad was on a break, and saw the incident. He said he has been in touch with Mason’s family and his girlfriend since the injury. Pochettino also said the Spurs squad sent Mason a video from Barcelona to wish him well. Mason was a Spurs youth product and made 70 appearances for the senior team before being sold to Hull City this past summer.
“Ryan is very strong, mentally,” Pochettino said. “His mentality, his personality. He has suffered a lot in the past, he has suffered a lot of injuries and it’s sure that he can recover as soon as possible. He is strong and he has people around him, his family, that help him a lot and us, too, who will push him to recover as soon as possible.”