EXCLUSIVE: Footage of Rodrigo Bentancur moments before showed him doing something unusual with his jaw, swinging it from side to side, leading to speculation that it may have been a precursor for what happened next
Tottenham’s 1-0 victory over Liverpool had 11 minutes added on in the first half after midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur was left sprawled on the ground having stooped to head a corner. Sky’s camera kept well clear of the player as he laid on the floor on the right hand side of Reds’ penalty area, either showing a long range view of huddled players or focussing on the faces of concerned managers.
Ange Postecoglu was forced to bring on Brennan Johnson before even 15 minutes had been played of the Carabao Cup semi-final, with an air of worry hanging over the remainder of the fixture.
Footage of Bentancur moments before showed him doing something unusual with his jaw, swinging it from side to side, leading to speculation that it may have been a precursor for what happened next.
Dr Gareth Nye, a lecturer in Biomedical Science at the University of Salford, however, thinks there is a good chance the swinging jaw may have been unrelated. He hopes that Bentancur, who has been serving an eight game ban in the Premier League, may have only suffered a concussion.
This morning (January 9), Bentancur posted a picture on Instagram from his hospital bed, saying: “All good, guys! Thank you for the messages!!! Congratulations for the victory boys!!!” The news comes as a relief, but also potentially as a surprise to some watching the game, who felt that the coverage and reaction implied it could have been a particularly bad situation. After the fall his legs seemed to kick and twitch, his arms at awkward angles by his side and oxygen provided as soon as medics arrived.
Speaking following Bentancur’s statement, Dr Nye explained what he through he could see in the footage. “I have seen a lot of the online speculation around a stroke,” he told the Daily Star . “There is no specific video evidence that definitively proves it was a stroke and no one could diagnose of what was essentially a less than two second clip whilst the player moved his head around.”
Dr Nye thinks it is possible that reason could be far more innocent. “For example,” he continued, “he may have been stretching his jaw at the time or even trying not to yawn. There are many things which could explain the facial expressions.
“This is also supported by the fact he was conscious and talking on the pitch, remained in the dressing room for quite a while after the incident and shows no sign of facial drooping in his later Instagram post.”
Instead, he looked more closely at the attempted header, saying: “Having watched the video slowed down, you can see he twists his head to get to the ball and as he lands on the pitch, the side of his head hits the ground with some force to the point his head bounces back up again.
“The brain is protected by the skull however in cases of trauma like this the brain actually bangs against the inside of the skull leading to bruising and as the brain is damaged it very often causes a loss of conscious, blurred vision and it can disrupt breathing patterns.
“My best guess would be Bentancur had quite a bad case of concussion and thankfully seems to be in good shape afterwards”.