Dan Burn was left with his head in his hands following Kai Havertz late winner for Chelsea on Sunday, and it left fans surprised by his missing finger.
Burn and Havertz were the main protagonists on the pitch in Sunday's meeting, with the news of Roman Abramovich's sanctions still filling in the narrative around the match.
Havertz was lucky not to get sent off in the first half when he went up for a ball with the recent Newcastle signing and caught him flush in the face with an elbow, picking up a yellow card.
With the away fans already aggrieved at that decision, they would have been left fuming when Havertz evaded Burn's marking in the 89th minute to collect Jorginho's ball over the top and smash in the winner.
Advert
Burn was left clutching Havertz shirt as the forward ran past him and then clutched his own face in frustration as the goal went in, leading people to notice he only has three fingers on one hand.
Having played 85 times for Brighton and over times for Wigan in his career, there's a chance some of their fans knew about the 29-year-old's missing digit, and some Newcastle fans may know too, but plenty clearly didn't.
According to reports, the 6"7 defender is said to have lost the phalange at the age of just 13, whilst he was climbing a fence, which at that age obviously wasn't just one stride of it.
Burn is said to have been wearing a ring on the finger when he got it caught on a spike in the fence and had the finger ripped off in the incident.
Speaking about the potential red card incident after the match, Havertz protested his innocence, though he did still apologise for catching the defender.
"People know me not as a player who does things like this," the striker said.
"This guy is like seven, eight foot and I have to jump against him. You have to use arms to jump and when I jump he is higher than me, so it is tough.
"I can say sorry because I saw he was hurt and feel bad, but you cannot tell me I did this on purpose.”
Topics: Premier League, Newcastle United
Ryan Sidle