ENGLAND vs Iran was massively delayed after goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand was involved in a horror head clash.
The keeper suffered a bloody nose after defender Majid Hosseini ran into him in a head-on collision.
He quickly received medical attention and physios managed to stop the bleeding.
It took many minutes but Beiranvand eventually got back to his feet and was able to restart play with a goal kick.
But he was clearly dazed after possibly suffering a concussion and signalled to come off before laying on the pitch.
No2 Hossein Hosseini had been warming up and replaced Beiranvand after a lengthy amount of stoppage time that saw 14 MINUTES added on to the end of the first half.
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The incident came minutes after Harry Maguire was denied an England penalty.
Gareth Southgate and his players fumed after the referee failed to award the spot kick despite Maguire appearing to be bear-hugged in the box.
The incident prompted a protest from Southgate, who waved his arms in frustration.
Maguire proved to be a danger in the box and almost gave England the lead in the 30th minute with a header from a Kieran Trippier corner that came back off the bar.
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Moments later Jude Bellingham showed him how it was down when he headed in Luke Shaw’s pinpoint cross.
It was the 19-year-old’s first goal for the Three Lions in his 18th appearance.
Bukayo Saka and Raheem Sterling then quickly added more goals in a superb first half for England.
England were to add another three in the second half, although conceded twice as the Three Lions got their campaign off to a flyer with a 6-2 win.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk