Atletico Madrid defender Diego Godin is to have dental surgery to replace three teeth broken in an aerial challenge with Valencia goalkeeper Neto during his team's 1-0 La Liga win on Sunday evening.
Godin had to be substituted after being accidentally caught by Neto as he cleared a corner kick early in the second half at the Wanda Metropolitano, with at least one of the Uruguay international's teeth appearing to fly through the air.
Godín perdió varios dientes en un brutal golpe de Neto en el área (foto: @pablogsacristan) https://t.co/YxPtXSfuFe #AtletiValencia pic.twitter.com/O6u4Comv2i
— MARCA (@marca) 4 February 2018
Atletico later released a statement saying Godin had suffered considerable damage to his teeth and gums and will be on the sidelines for an unknown period of time.
"Diego Godin suffered an injury to his face during the match against Valencia," the statement said. "Our defender has suffered a dentoalveolar fracture to three of his maxilla [located in the upper jaw]. He will undergo maxillofacial surgery in the coming days."
Atletico coach Diego Simeone did not go into detail on Godin's injury or defender Stefan Savic's hamstring problem at the post-game news conference, but the former Argentina international did lament that his side are yet to be awarded even one penalty in La Liga this season.
"They will have to kill one of us before we get a penalty, if that on Godin was not one," Simeone said.