Argentinos Juniors club said on Monday that midfielder Gaspar Iniguez broke three teeth when he prevented Cristian Erbes of Boca Juniors from launching a counter-attack by beating him to the ball with his head.
The club said that Iniguez dived to head the ball when it was barely a few centimetres off the ground believing he could get there before Erbes two minutes from the end of the 0-0 draw in the Argentine “Inicial” championship on Sunday.
They said he would have surgery on his teeth on Monday.
Erbes went to kick the ball as Iniguez made his dive and the incident also caused the Boca Juniors player a minor leg injury, local media said.
Both sides were trying to keep pace with leaders Newell’s Old Boys. The draw left Argentinos in joint third place three points behind Newell’s and Boca a point further back after eight matches.