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08:24, 19-Sep-2017
Gentner expected to make full recovery from horrifying injury
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Stuttgart captain Christian Gentner is expected to make a full recovery after having his life saved by the club's doctor.
The 32-year-old suffered severe facial injuries and swallowed his tongue after a collision with Koen Casteels late in Stuttgart's 1-0 Bundesliga win on Saturday.
Dr. Raymond Best was swiftly on the pitch and proceeded to draw the tongue of Gentner, who then underwent lengthy treatment on the field as blood stemmed from both his nose and mouth.
"Given the circumstances, he is well and on his way to recovery", Stuttgart's director Michael Reschke told broadcaster SWR on Monday.
Christian Gentner sustains the injuries during his side's victory over Wolfsburg. /Photo via ESPNFC
Christian Gentner sustains the injuries during his side's victory over Wolfsburg. /Photo via ESPNFC
Gentner posted a picture of the unaffected left side of his face on Instagram on Monday because the right is "not really presentable".
"First of all, the most important info for many people who have worried: I am very well, I have - as already mentioned - one or another break in the face, but nothing that could not be corrected again," he wrote.
Gentner hopes to be "back playing again soon", but Reschke says it was a miracle that he was not more seriously hurt. "We really need to be happy that in some ways he got off lightly," said Reschke.
Christian Gentner /Photo via VfB Stuttgart
Christian Gentner /Photo via VfB Stuttgart
As Gentner lay knocked-out on the pitch, "my heart stopped. The terrible fears, which we all initially had, didn't come true. Thank God," said Reschke. Gentner is expected to be out for several months, but "he will still be a very important figure for this team this season," added Reschke.
The Stuttgart boss says he expects that goalkeepers will rethink how they challenge for the ball in the future.
"I think Casteels will not do the same thing again in the next match and that many other Bundesliga goalkeepers will be thinking about how they will go into challenges in the future, at least not with this aggressiveness," Reschke said.
(Cover photo via Shutterstock)
Source(s): AFP