Ciaran Clark And His Broken Leg: What On Earth, Twitter?

So there I was, watching Republic of Ireland vs. Uruguay, keeping an eye on Edinson Cavani, Diego Lugano and Ciaran Clark. I can't sleep, as I have to make sure no more Villa players die, and they clearly can't die if I'm watching. I hear Clark's name being called with fifteen minutes left to play, and watch him trot over to the side of the pitch, replaced by Damien Delaney. Still, I couldn't let down my guard, with Cavani and Lugano still running around looking fragile. But then twitter caught my eye, mainly because of this:

Then the 7500 Twitter account lit up. Ciaran Clark broke his leg! Uruguay hurt Clarkie! What on earth are Villa to do, now that they only have two defenders! Let's invade Uruguay!

I sat there with my mouth open. I'd just watched CC run off the field. He wasn't even limping. In fact, moments before he'd shoved down Cavani in what would have been a reasonable penalty shout, although the ref seemed to think Cavani was diving and booked him (a move laughable to any Serie A fan). But the point remained: Clark was perfectly healthy. So how on earth did this all start?

I'm afraid I don't have the answer. I don't have the energy to track back to the first person who mentioned Clark breaking a leg. I doubt it was malicious, but at the same time, where did it come from? There was nothing in the match that suggested it. Did someone want to give Villa fans a heart attack? Do they want to slander Uruguay?

The most I can come up with is this: CC collided with Sean St Ledger during training, damaging his knee. That took St Ledger out of the running (and might account for some of the Villa's injury woes) and meant Clark could take his spot. When Clark left the field, someone started talking about St Ledger's injury and how Clark had caused it, and somehow that turned into OH MY GOD CLARK BROKE HIS LEG.

In short, no broken leg for Ciaran Clark. Yet another example of the fine investigative reporting skillz we have here at 7500.