Reading striker Nelson Oliveira has thanked medical staff after he sustained horrific facial injuries in a clash during his home debut for the club.
The 27-year-old, who is on loan from Norwich, was left bloodied with two deep cuts and a suspected broken nose after being caught by the boot of defender Tyrone Mings during Saturday’s goalless Sky Bet Championship draw with Aston Villa.
Gruesome photographs of Oliveira’s injuries emerged over the weekend, but the frontman confirmed on Monday he had been released from hospital in an Instagram post which showed the repair work.
He said: “Finally at home. I want to thank the entire medical team at @readingfc and the Royal Berkshire Hospital who helped me brilliantly during these tough days. I have no words to say how grateful I am.
“Thank you to all the people who sent me messages sharing love and support that will definitely help me get back even stronger! A special thank you to my lovely and beautiful wife @melrodrigues22 for always standing by my side in every moments. See you soon.”
Mings, who was making his Villa debut on loan from Bournemouth, sent his best wishes to Oliveira after the game via his Twitter account.
Absolutely loved wearing the claret and blue today and over the moon with the clean sheet! @AVFCOfficial Feel awfully sorry to Oliveira, I hope he is ok ❤️ #UTV pic.twitter.com/wCsa5ouNvW — Tyrone Mings (@OfficialTM_3) February 2, 2019
He said: “Absolutely loved wearing the claret and blue today and over the moon with the clean sheet! @AVFCOfficial Feel awfully sorry to Oliveira, I hope he is OK.”
Mings found himself in the spotlight as a result of his challenge, with match referee Geoff Eltringham taking no further action on the day.
But the Royals have since revealed they believe the situation will not be reviewed as Eltringham saw the incident at the time.
As a club, we ensured that the referee & the FA were fully aware of an incident during Saturday’s match which caused injury to our striker, Nélson Oliveira. But as the incident was seen by the ref at the time, we understand no retrospective action can or will be taken by the FA. pic.twitter.com/AXYa8N9Rgg — Reading FC (@ReadingFC) February 4, 2019
A post on the club’s official Twitter account said: “As a club, we ensured that the referee and the FA were fully aware of an incident during Saturday’s match which caused injury to our striker, Nelson Oliveira.
“But as the incident was seen by the ref at the time, we understand no retrospective action can or will be taken by the FA.”
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