Mariano Bittolo didn't have a great weekend. YouTube

Soccer players are often criticized for their theatrics and embellishments when it comes to being fouled, but occasionally we all get a reminder that the sport can be quite brutal. We got one of those reminders this weekend.

It came at the expense of Mariano Bíttolo -- Argentine defender for Spanish club Albacete -- and his privates. During a match over the weekend, Bíttolo took a teammate's cleat to the groin and went down in excruciating pain. Getting kicked in the privates with spiked footwear is pretty much a nightmare scenario for any man, but that was just the beginning for poor ol' Bíttolo.

¡Qué dolor! Mariano Bíttolo sufrió un golpe de su compañero y debieron darle 10 puntos de sutura en el pene. 😲pic.twitter.com/5eciZTtfS0 — Futbolistas AXEM (@FutbolistasAXEM) October 29, 2017

It appears he knew something was wrong almost immediately, and he headed to the sideline to inspect his junk. You know a situation is pretty dire when you have to do a health check on your family jewels.

The inspection turned out to be a good news/bad news type of deal for Bíttolo. The good news? All his parts were accounted for. The bad news? They did not escape the incident unscathed, and we presume the scene inside his soccer trunks was a horrifying one that he won't soon forget.

The damage done to his member reportedly required 10 stitches to fix. Even thinking about that makes me want to vomit, but -- amazingly -- Bíttolo is not expected to miss any games as a result of the injury. It's wild to think that Bíttolo may have actually been lucky here, but it sounds like the end result could have been significantly worse long-term.

Regardless, anytime you show up to the office and leave with 10 stitches on your penis, it's a pretty bad day at work.