Thiago Silva narrowly escaped a broken neck after being 'backed into' by Salzburg striker, impact was sickening

helsea defender Thiago Silva narrowly escaped injury against RB Salzburg in the Champions League after being 'backed into' by Roko Simic.

The Blues sealed qualification from Group E thanks to a 2-1 victory in Austria on Tuesday evening.

Mateo Kovacic opened the scoring in the first half before Salzburg equalised through Junior Amadu in the second half.

Kai Havertz bent in a lovely left-footed effort shortly after to seal all three points, to the delight of Chelsea manager Graham Potter on the touchline.

Eight minutes before the end, veteran defender Silva was involved in a scary incident which saw him receive treatment on the pitch.

He jumped to beat Simic to a header, but the Salzburg striker appeared to take a glance at Silva's position and manoeuvre his body.

It saw him collide with Silva's back, who landed awkwardly on the Red Bull Arena turf, just inches away from his neck.

Chelsea medical staff quickly checked on the Brazil international who was able to complete the full 90 minutes.

Simic escaped punishment from the referee but fans on social media are furious with how dangerous the piece of play was.

One person said: Any other sport would punish something like this."

Another commented: "This is extremely dangerous and needs stamping out of the sport."

A third tweeted: "I hate seeing challenges like this so much."

While someone said: "Should be red and multiple game suspension imo. If he had flipped a bit more he could’ve landed on his head. This is dirty af."

Chelsea are still unbeaten under Potter, who paid tribute to his side's performance in his post-match interview.

"That was a fantastic performance from the players," he told the club's official website.

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"It took real courage as you could feel the atmosphere. It was so intense. We controlled their pressure well. It’s not easy to win here as you can see from the record they have. We had to play well.

"We were a bit disappointed to only be one goal up at half-time. One mistake and action resulted in a goal, and that can happen at this level. Our response was really good. I’m delighted to go through with a game to spare considering where we started the competition."

Chelsea return to Premier League action against Brighton on Saturday afternoon.