Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has accused Reading's Stephen Hunt of intentionally injuring goalkeeper Petr Cech during Saturday's Premier League match.
The 24-year-old Czech international suffered a fractured skull when Hunt's knee hit his head in a collision minutes into Chelsea's 1-0 league win at the Madejski Stadium.
"Don't tell me tall stories, this was not an accident," Drogba was quoted as saying by French Sports daily L'Equipe on Tuesday. "He [Hunt] saw that he was going to collide with Petr and he didn't try to avoid it.
"The worst came after that. When Petr was carried out of the ground, he [Hunt] was laughing...," Drogba was quoted as saying.
Cech underwent surgery and has since regained full consciousness and is improving, Chelsea said on Monday.
Cech's replacement, Carlo Cudicini, was also knocked out later in the game going for a high ball in the goalmouth. He, too, was taken to hospital but discharged later that night and resumed light training on Monday.
"I'm not paranoid but they hate us", Drogba was quoted as saying. "Some people will use any means to beat us."
VERY UPSET
"We went there to play a match, but we soon realised that the guys facing us were out for the game of the season," L'Equipe quoted Drogba as saying.
"From the first minute, he [Hunt] tried to intimidate us, to show that he didn't fear us and that we'd better be ready for one hell of a challenge for 90 minutes," he said.
Hunt said on Monday that he had written to Cech wishing him a quick recovery and was adamant the collision in the opening minute was accidental.
"I can guarantee that I did not attempt to injure Petr and I am very upset that the collision has resulted in such a bad injury," he said.
"I think the TV pictures show that the collision was a complete accident and I'd like to think that my team mates and opponents throughout my career in football would say that I'm not the kind of person to deliberately hurt an opponent."
Reading also issued a statement supporting Hunt.
L'Equipe also asked Drogba about the Champions League's showcase match against European champions Barcelona on Wednesday and Drogba said: "We are going to try to snatch the three points and dedicate the victory to Petr and Carlo."