“Kiki” Kouyaté may have railed and grumbled, but Guilhem Escudier, doctor at Montpellier-Hérault SC, refused to reverse his decision. Without even asking the opinion of Michel Der Zakarian, the MHSC coach, he decided to replace him at the hour mark of the Le Havre-Montpellier match (0-2), this Sunday followingnoon. In doing so, Doctor Escudier applied the concussion protocol. First experimented in Ligue 1, it has definitely been adopted since the start of the 2022-2023 season. It allows the replacement of a player when he is hit in the head during a duel with an opponent.
However, the Hérault central defender was twice. The first time, during a violent head-to-head collision in an aerial duel with André Ayew (25th). As both players remained on the ground, this required the intervention of the medical staff of both teams. The second, during another aerial clash with Daler Kouzyaïev (58th).
Coincidentally, such a mishap had already happened to Kouyaté, almost a year ago, to the day. Violently hit in the temple during a head-to-head collision with Marseille striker Vitinha, the Montpellier defender left the pitch at the Vélodrome stadium on a stretcher, in the 17th minute of Marseille-Montpellier (April 1, 2023) . After spending the night under observation in a hospital in the Marseille city, he was finally able to return to Hérault the next day.
This Sunday, the Malian international was able to get up, following lying down once once more for a few minutes on the pitch at the Océane stadium. “He is doing well, he has not had any memory loss, like last year in Marseille,” reassured Michel Der Zakarian, his trainer. That’s why he wanted to stay and why he wasn’t happy to leave. But the doctor and the physiotherapist made the decision following two shocks.”
A choice which also paid off since Der Zakarian replaced Kouyaté with Christopher Jullien, author… of the second goal, twenty minutes later. Enough to make Kouyaté smile once more, following the final whistle: “It’s true that I would have preferred to continue playing. But the main thing is that I’m doing well and we won. »
