Gary Lineker has described John Barnes’ Achilles tendon tear during a warm-up England match as like “a shotgun going off”.
Speaking on the Rest is Football podcast, Barnes went through his impressive footballing career alongside fellow former England team-mate Lineker. When the ex-Barcelona striker asked Barnes for the highlight of his career, the former Liverpool forward explained how an incident where he ruptured his Achilles tendon when playing for England made him the player he became.
Barnes said: “Well, from a club perspective I always use my whole career – six years at Watford, 10 years at Liverpool. I kind of cut the 18 months at Newcastle and Charlton, you can forget about that.
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“Because what makes you the person you are, the player you are, is the consistency you show over a period of time. You can always pick individual moments and say that’s your highlight, but that’s not what makes you who you are, you take the good and the bad.”
During a warm-up match against Finland ahead of the 1992 European Championships, Barnes limped off the pitch with the horrid injury, which left him on the sidelines for five months. It marked a turning point in Barnes’ career, compelling a pivot from attacker to midfielder due to the lingering issues.
The ex-footballer continued: “I mean, you know when I ruptured my Achilles tendon, were you playing? Finland 1992?” Lineker added: “I heard it, it sounded like a shotgun went off!”
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Barnes replied: “Yeah, I thought someone had kicked me. Yeah, now they thought I wouldn’t play again, because mine, not only did it rupture, it shredded. So they had to cut out the shredded parts and pull the tendon together. Now I came back to play, I wasn’t the same player but I played for another six years and was still playing for England for two years afterwards.”
Lineker then said: “They had you in midfield didn’t they?”
Barnes agreed, as he said: “I played in midfield because I had to, because I couldn’t run anymore. They thought I wouldn’t play anymore, because I couldn’t sprint so I had to be a different type of player. And the fact that I adapted as much as I did – I wasn’t as eye-catching or that you know, I couldn’t do what I did before. But that still gave me a lot of pressure to show the resilience to come back from something like that.
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“So regardless of whether fans saw me and said he’s not doing it anymore because of whatever reason, I took a lot of credit from that. So I don’t look at the highlights, I look at the good and the bad.”
Barnes became a club legend for Liverpool during his decade at Anfield, scoring 107 goals and assisting 88 times – winning the league twice as well as two FA Cups, a League Cup and three FA Charity Shields. He earned 79 caps for England and scored 11 goals, reaching the quarter finals of the 1986 World Cup with the team.
Becoming a Liverpool icon over his decade with the team, Barnes banged in 107 goals and set up 88 more, nabbing the league title twice alongside two FA Cups, a League Cup and three shiny FA Charity Shields. He sported the England shirt 79 times, knocking in 11 goals and helping the squad reach the quarter-finals of the World Cup back in ’86.