Cisse will bounce back, says Henry

Thierry Henry has expressed his sadness at the injury to Djibril Cisse that has ruled the Liverpool striker out of the World Cup, but has backed the player to return.

Cisse suffered a fractured right tibia after 11 minutes of last night’s friendly win against China in St Etienne in an innocuous challenge from Zhi Zheng.

Les Bleus coach Raymond Domenech confirmed afterwards the 24-year-old had been rushed to hospital to undergo surgery and would not take part in Germany.

Cisse missed the majority of the 2004-05 season with a similar injury to his left leg, sustained in a game against Blackburn at Ewood Park in October 2004.

“It was really not nice to see nor to hear him scream,” said Henry. "This is a really bad time for him, for us and his family.

“It was hard not to think about it during the match because we are leaving a friend on the side of the road.

“I am sure he will bounce back again. We will try to find the time to go and see him.”

Lyon midfielder Florent Malouda added: “It affected us a lot. We saw what happened and had his screaming in our heads until the end of the match.

“It’s bad it happened to him again, on the other leg.

“We must support him because he is going to be going through a difficult time. We don’t know how he will react.

“We will try to support him the best we can. He came back once and it was an extraordinary recovery. We will now see who will replace him.”

Juventus defender Lilian Thuram admitted he did not realise the severity of the injury at the time.

“When I was on the pitch I did not think it was that serious, we were not too sure,” he said.

“He was in pain, he was saying he had broken his leg, but there is always a doubt. When we found out, we were all extremely sad.

“The injury is very serious and this is the second time. It is always hard to come back in such circumstances and it’s hard to live with that.

“Cisse will not be with us physically at the World Cup but he will be in our hearts.”

Cisse’s Liverpool team-mate Steven Gerrard, preparing for the tournament with England, also expressed his sympathy.

The midfielder said: “We send our regards to Djibril. We know how hard he worked to get back from his first break.”