Hours after the Italy team arrived in Austria for Euro 2008, disaster struck when their captain, Fabio Cannavaro, who led Italy to World Cup victory in 2006, sustained a serious ankle injury during the team's first public training session. Cannavaro was forced to miss the whole tournament and here the Italian team doctor, Professor Andrea Ferretti, takes up the story. 

''On June 2^nd, during training, Italy's captain, Fabio Cannavaro, received a serious injury to his left ankle, leaving him unable to move it. The clinical examinations and radiolograms (standard and stress radiography, MRI) revealed a third grade ligament injury of the lateral compartment (anterior talo-fibular ligament and capsula) with a severe instability.

On the basis of the clinical diagnosis, surgical intervention was recommended.''I carried out the necessary surgery on the 4^th June at the Weiner Private Klinik in Vienna with the aid of my assistant Fabio Conteduca and Dr. Christian Gabler from Vienna. The Real Madrid team doctor, Alfonso Del Coral was also present. ''Following the surgical intervention to repair the damage to the ligaments he was fitted with a DonJoy MC Walker and allowed to weight bear as tolerated by the patient.

On the second day after his operation, Cannavaro started functional rehabilitation, occasionally removing the Walker when necessary to complete the prescribed exercises. After a fortnight, the support was removed and the patient was able to walk independently without any support, further aiding the progress of his functional rehabilitation.'' Happily for Italy, Cannavaro is back to full fitness and last month successfully led the title-defending World Cup team to win their first two Qualifiers.