Tuesday night in Greece, Atletico Madrid striker Mario Mandzukic was elbowed in the face by Olympiacos midfielder Pajtim Kasami. The incident took place in the third minute of Atletico’s Champions League group stage match and required the forward to leave the pitch for several minutes while medics attempted to patch up his bleeding nose.
Mandzukic returned to play with gauze in both nostrils and scored a goal in the 38th minute to bring Los Rojiblancos within one goal of the Greek champions (2-1). But the Spanish side would ultimately drop their opening group stage match to Olympiacos by a score of 3-2.
Today it has been learned that Mandzukic had surgery to correct his broken nose and may miss up to two weeks of the season.
The former Bayern Munich player was brought in during the summer as a replacement to leading goal scorer Diego Costa, who moved to Chelsea. Mandzukic scored 33 times in 54 appearances for the Bundesliga club over the past two seasons.
His absence will be significant to reigning La Liga champions because Atletico manager Diego Simeone had placed the responsibility of replacing Costa’s 36 goals in all competitions squarely on the shoulders of the 28-year-old striker.
Simeone’s next best scoring options are Mexico international Raul Jimenez and club veteran Raul Garcia.
Should Mandzukic miss the next two weeks, he would be ruled out of Atletico’s league matches against Celta Vigo, Almeria and possibly Sevilla. He could be fit for the club’s next Champions League encounter against Italian champions Juventus on October 1st.
