‘A miracle’: Omar Elabdellaoui’s road back from blindness to football

“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.

“I didn’t really have control over the first days,” the Norwegian says in impressive English developed during a spell in Manchester City’s academy. “Everything was dark – I didn’t know if it was night or day. Time was irrelevant.” There was anger among Elabdellaoui’s nearest and dearest that a person supposedly sent to help had shared a picture of him at such a traumatic time. Some demanded the accused be sacked or sued but Elabdellaoui asked only for an apology, knowing further punishment would help nobody. He is yet to receive one.

As doctors assessed the injuries, Elabdellaoui’s career looked