MEATH MAN SEAN Cox will make his Anfield return for Liverpool’s Premier League table-topping clash with champions Manchester City on Sunday.
The lifelong Liverpool fan, 53, suffered life-changing brain injuries in an unprovoked attack outside the same ground ahead of the Reds’ Champions League semi-final first leg tie against Roma in April 2018.
Roma fan Simone Mastrelli, 30, was jailed at Preston Crown Court for three and a half years last February for the assault.
Dunboyne native Mr Cox has spent the past 18 months undergoing intensive rehabilitation and therapy, and has been based in Sheffield since September of this year.
The father of three will make his Anfield return courtesy of the Merseyside club this weekend. His wife, Martina Cox, told Pat Kenny on Newstalk: “The trip will be emotional and a little bit bittersweet.
“We’re getting him there, and that’s a really positive thing for him – I think it will be great for him.
“Liverpool have been amazing, and they’ve really come on board. Obviously they had the [charity] game in the Aviva… so I reckon they’ll be pulling out all the stops for Sean.
“It will give him a boost, I think, on Sunday. I can’t wait to see his face to be honest.”
A charity football match in Dublin earlier this year raised €748,000 for Mr Cox’s rehabilitaiton.
Almost 27,000 fans attended the Liverpool legends v Republic of Ireland XI fixture at the Aviva Stadium in April, a year after the Dunboyne GAA man was brutally attacked.
Mrs Cox, who revealed that her husband is making progress in what will be a long recovery, stressed the importance of the funds raised both during that charity match and elsewhere.
“He’s on a 12-14 week programme,” she said.
“Sean needs a serious amount of rehab, and it’s to improve him… for a better quality of life.
“We don’t really know the final outcome, how things are going to pan out… But we’re there just to make things better for him.
“Unfortunately for Sean, he needs so much more rehab, so that’s why we had to reach out and see what we could do.
“Other than that, Sean would just be in a nursing home – and we just weren’t having that, so that’s why we did all the fundraising.”
