Tragic
Heurelho Gomes: Hoffenheim and their goalkeepers have often
Heurelho Gomes: Hoffenheim and their goalkeepers have often been a difficult subject.
been a difficult subject. No match practice, no language skills, a debut after just one training session – all the ingredients were there for a false start. The loanee flown in from Tottenham to replace the discarded Tim Wiese drew more attention through a YouTube compilation than through great saves.
In a two-minute montage backed by stereotypical circus music, Gomes elegantly flew past the ball, grabbed into the net and caught nothing but air.
Brought in to end the circus around Wiese, he often looked like a punchline himself. After only nine appearances and a broken hand, he was sent home.
Boris Vukčević: Boris Vukčević began his career in
Boris Vukčević: Boris Vukčević began his career in 1995 at SV Staufenberg in Hesse.
1995 at SV Staufenberg in Hesse. In summer 2008 he moved to Hoffenheim’s reserve side. On the final day of 2008/09, he featured in Hoffenheim’s 3–2 away win at Schalke.
From the start of 2009/10 he was regularly part of the first-team squad and scored his first Bundesliga goal on the final day against Stuttgart.
He moved through Germany’s youth national teams and made appearances for the U19, U20 and U21 sides. A Bundesliga career seemed mapped out.
Then came two catastrophic years. On 2 April 2011 he suffered a broken fibula against Hamburg and was sidelined until the end of November.
In autumn 2012 he was badly injured in a car accident and fell into a coma, from which he later awoke.
Hoffenheim did not extend his contract beyond summer 2014. Peter Rettig tried to soften the blow by saying that if Boris could play football again, he would get a contract at Hoffenheim. Particularly tragic was the later forensic conclusion: acute hypoglycaemia had caused the crash. Vukčević is a type-1 diabetic and had already suffered a car accident for the same reason in 2010. A year after the crash, his parents said in an interview that he was making good progress on the road back to a normal life.
On 2 April 2014 he appeared in public for the first time again during a visit to the team. But the Bundesliga never saw him again.