Football is a physical game, and every player going into the sport knows they will likely pick an injury up at some point in their career, whether it be a slight knock or something a little more serious, it's avery real danger.

Fans, of course, love it when a player picks up a knock and carries on with the rest of the game, playing through the pain barrier like it isn't even there.

However, last night during Schalke's defeat to Dutch giants Ajax, 22-year-old midfielder Leon Goretzka picked up two separate injuries during a collision with opposition 'keeper Andre Onana, but was bizarrely kept on the pitch for the second half despite visibly struggling at half time.

According to a report in German publication Kicker, the youngster suffered a double fracture of his jaw as well as a concussion, and was kept on the field until he was hauled off six minutes from full time.

During the break, while receiving treatment for his injuries, the report states that he vomited several times, leaving his teammates wondering just how he was able to continue.

“I don’t know what he has exactly. He spent more time with the doctors than with us in the dressing room during the break," teammate Benedikt Howedes said.

“But he gave everything, and we are very proud of him and hope that it’s not all that dramatic.”

Incredibly, he was still able to score the side's first goal of the evening less than 10 minutes after the second half started, which is an amazing feat given the circumstances.

When he was eventually withdrawn from the action for Johannes Geis he had to be helped off by the club's medical staff before being transferred to hospital where the full extent of his injuries were actually discovered and diagnosed.

He is now expected to miss the rest of the season while he recovers, though Schalke eventually ended crashing out of the Europa League to Ajax.

However, there were some serious questions being asked of the club's medical staff for not figuring out how serious his injuries were when they had the opportunity to examine him at half time.

There has already been a call for clubs to do more in protecting players who pick up head injuries, and the reaction on social media highlighted that further.

Considering the Bundesliga has been so progressive in a number of ways – mostly concerning the way the league looks after fans – it is a shock to learn that one of the clubs has fallen short in such a spectacular way.

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