Goalkeeper Saves Penalty With Perforated Intestine

A goalkeeper from Chile managed to save a penalty kick during a soccer game, despite the fact that he was suffering from a perforated intestine at the time.

Mauricio Viana, who was in goal for the Santiago Wanderers, managed to pick up the bizarre, yet incredibly serious injury, during his side’s encounter with Audax Italiano.

It is believed that Viana got the injury when he clashed with Omar Zalazar, Italiano’s striker, whilst battling for possession of the ball during the second half of their encounter.

Viana’s injury would normally keep players out of action for several weeks, or even months, but the Brazilian born shot stopper managed to persevere, somehow.

The 22-year-old even made a number of dramatic and excellent saves, which helped to keep the scores level. All the while, his injury continued to just get worse and worse.

In the 89th minute though all of his heroic efforts looked to have been in vain, when Audaux Italiano were awarded a penalty, which would have almost certainly given them all three points if it had been converted.

However, miraculously, Viana managed to save the spot kick, which was taken by Christian Canuhe. Viana dived to his left, blocking Canuhe’s weak effort with his falling knees, whilst he even managed to quickly get up and then gather the loose ball when a follow up player for Italiano attempted to bundle the ball into the goal.

Both Italiano and Santiago didn’t manage to score another goal, and the match ended in a draw. But Viana’s celebrations didn’t last too long as he was then immediately taken to hospital once the full-time whistle had been blown.

Doctors, fans, players, and coaches were shocked to discover his injury, and then even more flummoxed by the fact that he managed to play on despite the obvious pain that was shooting through his body. Viana is expected to make a full recovery.