- A Heerenveen player suffered a serious 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 himself in a frightening moment of worry during a recent cup match after his eye appeared to pop out of its socket while blowing his nose.
Moldovan striker Ion Nicolaescu was at the center of the eye sore while playing for Robin van Persie's Heerenveen in a Dutch Cup clash against amateur team Quick Boys.
The match ended in dramatic circumstances in extra time, with Van Persie being scolded for a goalkeeper decision and the Eredivisie team being eliminated from the competition.
However, footage of Nicolaescu's bizarre moment has gone viral, with viewers left stunned by scenes of what could have resulted in a serious eye injury.
The Heerenveen star already had a swollen and bruised eye after a collision with an opposition player, but did not seem too concerned about the impact.
Nicolaescu did not look uncomfortable as he returned to his formation position in the Van Persie setup before making a mistake by blowing his nose which caused his eye to twitch.
A Dutch top-flight star found himself in a frightening moment of worry during a recent cup match after his eye appeared to pop out of its socket.
Moldovan striker Ion Nicolaescu was left with his eyeball protruding from his eye socket
The effect was almost immediate as Nicolaescu's eye appeared to pop out of its socket and move into an unnatural position making it difficult to see.
Somehow he didn't seem to realize what had happened initially before cautiously moving his hand towards the lump and feeling around the eye socket that had now almost doubled in size.
Nicolaescu, who had scored earlier in the match, appears to continue playing before being substituted with just a few minutes 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 harsh criticism after the match after changing his goalkeeper's position late in the game with the substitute stopper making a mistake at the death that saw Heerenveen suffer a shock exit from the cup
Van Persie backed his decision but admitted the substitution was unusual, adding: “This almost never happens in football, so I understand why people find it illogical.”
'But the fact that it almost never happens was no reason for me not to do it. And we've talked about 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 above all I look at why it was a good choice,” he added.