We shudder to think of how it felt to pull the blood-caked sock away from the wounds on Hector Herrera’s foot on Wednesday night.
Herrera suffered two brutal cuts to his left foot in a challenge with Juventus defender Stephan Lichtsteiner during this week’s Champions League Round of 16 tie.
The Porto midfielder was in visible discomfort following the tackle just after half-time, which earned Lichtsteiner a yellow card, but Herrera somehow managed to see out the remainder of the game.
The thought of kicking a ball with such gruesome open cuts is enough to make our skin crawl but Herrera is clearly made of sterner stuff than us which is why he’s a professional footballer and we’re writing about professional footballers.
Por una durísima falta de Lichtsteiner, así quedó el pie de Héctor Herrera, jugador del Porto. ¡Terrible! pic.twitter.com/FmsHidyWF7
— SportsCenter (@SC_ESPN) February 22, 2017
Juventus won the first leg 2-0, courtesy of two away goals via Marko Pjaca and Dani Alves, while Porto full-back Alex Telles was sent off in the first half for two bookable offences in quick succession.
It’s a game Herrera will remember for a long time and the memory will not be a fond one.
Catch up with this week’s episode of 888sport Football Friday Live
