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The Wild Flying Knee Tackle That Resulted In Argentina's Exequiel Palacios Suffering A Fractured Spine

The Wild Flying Knee Tackle That Resulted In Argentina's Exequiel Palacios Suffering A Fractured Spine

Angel Romero jumped in on Exequiel Palacio, who was taken off straight away.

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

Argentina's Exequiel Palacio has suffered a fractured spine after being on the receiving end of a brutal flying knee tackle from Paraguay's Angel Romero last night.

The World Cup qualifier between the two South American sides got incredibly feisty and the very worst challenge came from Romero, who scored the visitors' equaliser in the 1-1 draw.

He flew into Bayer Leverkusen midfielder Palacios' back with both knees in dangerous fashion, leaving him in some serious discomfort.

A VAR check followed but somehow Romero escaped with just a yellow card.

Palacios was wheeled away on a buggy and had to be replaced by Spurs' midfielder Giovani Lo Celso. It was later revealed by the AFA that he had suffered a fractured spine and is set for a lengthy lay-off.

A statement read: "The player suffered direct trauma to the left paravertebral lumbar area, verifying a fracture of the transverse processes of the lumbar spine."

It should be noted that there is some history between Romero and Palacios. Romero has a twin brother called Oscar and he was on the receiving end of a lunge from Palacios back in 2019 when the 22-year-old was playing for River Plate.

Speaking about Palacios' injury after the game, Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni said: "We've lost a player for several days or months,"

"I don't know if there was bad intention or not, but there was a blow and VAR didn't intervene. I send Exequiel a big hug. I hope he recovers soon. The group is concerned [for him]."

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Topics: Football News, Football, Argentina, Paraguay