Stuttgart player on mend after close shave with death

BERLIN - Stuttgart captain Christian Gentner is "on his way to recovery" after a horrific collision saw him swallow his tongue and left him with multiple facial fractures, the Bundesliga club said.

"Given the circumstances, he is well and on his way to recovery", Stuttgart's sporting director Michael Reschke told broadcaster SWR on Monday.

The 32-year-old sustained fractures of the eye socket, nose and upper jaw when the knee of Wolfsburg goalkeeper Koen Casteels caught him flush in the face late in Stuttgart's 1-0 Bundesliga win last Saturday.