Gruesome moment footballer appears to pop his EYE OUT while blowing his nose during a game

  • A Heerenveen player suffered a gruesome eye injury during a Dutch Cup match
  • The Moldovan striker was left with a protruding eye socket after blowing his nose
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A Dutch top flight star found themselves in a gruesome moment of concern during a recent cup match after appearing to pop his eye out of its socket while blowing his nose.

Moldovan striker Ion Nicolaescu was at the centre of the eye sore while playing for Robin van Persie’s Heerenveen side in a Dutch Cup clash against amateur outfit Quick Boys.

The game eventually ended in dramatic circumstances in extra time that saw Van Persie scolded over a goalkeeping decision as the Eredivisie side crashed out of the competition.

However, footage of Nicolaescu’s bizarre moment has now gone viral with viewers stunned by the scenes of what could have resulted in a serious eye injury.

The Heerenveen star was already nursing a swollen and bruised eye following a collision with a rival player but didn’t appear overly concerned by the impact.

Nicolaescu didn’t look in any discomfort as he returned to his formational position in Van Persie’s set-up before making a mistake by blowing his nose that caused the eye to move.

A Dutch top flight star found themselves in a gruesome moment of concern during a recent cup match after appearing to pop his eye out of its socket

Moldovan striker Ion Nicolaescu was left with his eyeball protruding up into its eye socket

Moldovan striker Ion Nicolaescu was left with his eyeball protruding up into its eye socket

The effect was almost immediate as Nicolaescu’s eye appeared to pop out of its socket and move up into an unnatural position that makes for some uneasy viewing.

He somehow didn’t appear to notice what had initially happened before gingerly moving his hand up to the bulge and feeling around his eye socket that had now almost doubled in size. 

Nicolaescu – who had scored earlier in the match – then appears to continue playing before eventually being substituted with just moments remaining in extra time.

The extent of his injury is currently unknown and the player could be forced to wear a protective mask in future matches to protect the now-damaged eye socket.

Meanwhile, Premier League legend Van Persie faced scathing criticism following the match after swapping his goalkeeper’s late in the game with the substitute shot-stopper making an error at the death that saw Heerenveen suffer a shock cup exit.

Van Persie backed his call but did, however, admit the substitution was unusual, adding: ‘It almost never happens in football, so I understand that it feels illogical to people.

‘But the fact that it almost never happens was no reason for me not to do this. And we have discussed this often with Mickey and Andries in recent months.

‘You can think of all kinds of reasons why that substitution was not a good choice. But I mainly look at why it was a good choice,’ he added. 

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