How Mexico World Cup goal scorer Raúl Jiménez came back from horrific head injury

When Raúl Jiménez made his darting run at the back post in Mexico's opening game of the 2026 World Cup, the entire Estadio Azteca held its breath before exploding in joy.

Jiménez had nodded home and, after wheeling away in celebration, roared in delight as his side went 2-0 up against South Africa.

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You can forgive the 35-year-old's emotion.

Leading the line for your country at a home World Cup and scoring a match-sealing goal is overwhelming enough.

Especially, having come so close in the opening five minutes, a rifling first-time shot denied only by a frankly spectacular save by Ronwen Williams.

But considering where Jiménez has come from makes it even more poignant.

In November 2020, it looked like his career would be prematurely ended by a shocking injury he sustained in a Premier League game for Wolverhampton Wanderers against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.

Jiménez was knocked out after a clash of heads with Arsenal centre back David Luiz just five minutes into the contest, leaving both players stricken on the surface.

Luiz got up and played on.

Jiménez did not.

It was immediately clear that the Mexican was far more seriously impacted than Luiz, receiving oxygen on the pitch before being stretchered off in a desperately serious condition after a 10-minute delay.

Masked emergency workers — this was the height of COVID, remember — and the empty stands at the 60,000 capacity Emirates stadium made the vista all the more haunting and unsettling.

There were reasonable fears that not only would his career be over, but his life impacted by the collision.

He only regained consciousness at the hospital with news that he had badly fractured his skull and suffered a bleed on the brain, requiring emergency surgery.

"They told me it was like miracle to be there," Jiménez told the Guardian in 2021.

"[There was] the skull fracture, the bone broke and there was a little bit of bleeding inside the brain.

"It was pushing my brain to the inside and that is why the surgery had to be quick. It was a really good job by the doctors."

Jiménez has said he has no recollection of the impact, not even the opening passages of the game, only leaving his stuff in the dressing room and warming up.

But, less than a year later, he was back playing, and scoring, in the Premier League for Wolves.

He admitted that heading the ball again took some getting used to, making the fact that he used his head to score on Friday all the more impressive.

But it is also indicative that he shows little if any ill effects from his traumatic injury.

He does wear a black head guard — he told the Guardian that he wouldn't wear it if it were up to him — with extra padding over a thin white scar that marks his head.

But those are the only reminders of a moment in his career that could have been its emphatic closing chapter.

Now, almost six years on, he's celebrating scoring a goal in front of his adoring home fans at the World Cup in the historic Estadio Azteca, his tears saying more about his journey than anything else.