While Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain were facing off in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid’s match was overshadowed by a serious injury to Fermin Lopez
Barcelona star Fermin Lopez suffered a gruesome injury against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League(Image: CBS Sports)
Fermin Lopez suffered a gruesome injury during Barcelona’s Champions League quarterfinal match against Atletico Madrid, with the Spanish midfielder needing to receive urgent medical treatment.
While Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain faced off in the other Champions League quarterfinal match of Tuesday night, Barcelona headed to Madrid hoping to overturn a 2-0 deficit against Atletico Madrid.
However, the action in the Spanish capital was overshadowed early on by a gruesome injury to Fermin after the Barcelona star’s face connected with the end of Atletico goalkeeper Juan Musso’s boot. Fermin immediately went down, but as he did so, his face hit the ground, leading to a bloody aftermath.
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Broadcast cameras caught blood pouring from Fermin’s nose, with the Barcelona midfielder hunched over on the pitch at the Metropolitano Stadium.
Thankfully, he did not seem to be seriously injured, with Fermin able to continue against Atletico, albeit with what looked to be a broken nose following his collision with Musso’s boot.
Barcelona had taken the lead after four minutes through Lamine Yamal, before then scoring a second through Ferran Torres to level the score on aggregate against Atletico. However, Diego Simeone’s side then scored shortly after through Ademola Lookman, making it 3-2 on aggregate to Atletico at half-time during the second leg.
Musso’s boot made contact with Fermin(Image: CBS Sports)
Meanwhile, on Merseyside, Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain played out a 0-0 first half at Anfield.
However, the biggest talking point of the first half was an injury suffered by Liverpool star Hugo Ekitike, who worryingly went down with a non-contact injury.
The French forward immediately looked to be in some pain, with Liverpool’s medical staff signaling for a stretcher to be brought on for Ekitike.
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Hugo Ekitike was replaced in the opening half due to injury(Image: Michael Steele/Getty Images)
The incident occurred at the half-hour mark, when Ekitike moved toward a pass from Dominik Szoboszlai. However, with no one around him, Ekitike dropped to the turf, holding his ankle. He did not try to get up.
He was immediately surrounded by both sets of players. Mohamed Salah replaced Ekitike.
The injury will be a significant concern for France boss Didier Deschamps, too, ahead of the World Cup. Should it be a serious one, the Liverpool star will almost certainly miss the World Cup this summer, a tournament in which he looked set to start for France with Kylian Mbappe operating off the left wing.
