Lucas Torreira showed his commitment to the Fiorentina cause by yanking out his own tooth during a draw at the San Siro rather than leaving the field of play.
The 26-year-old midfielder is spending his second season away from parent club Arsenal, after a permanent move away from north London failed to materialise over the summer. He scored his fourth goal of the season to give Fiorentina the lead away at high-flying Inter Milan, equalling his tally across two seasons with the Gunners.
Shortly after the hosts drew level through Denzel Dumfries, Torreira's tooth came loose. However, instead of moving to the sidelines for treatment, he decided to take the tooth out himself.
Torreira's opener was his second in as many games. After good work down the right from Nicolas Gonzalez, the Uruguayan got to the loose ball before Inter midfielder Nicolo Barella and lashed the ball beyond Samir Handanovic.
Despite pulling level, Inter's dropped points saw them lose further ground in the title race due to results elsewhere. They now sit third after Napoli came from behind to beat Udinese and league leaders AC Milan won 1-0 at Cagliari thanks to a goal from another former Arsenal man, Ismael Bennacer.
Later in the second half, eagle-eyed viewers were able to spot that Torreira had a tooth missing. A post from the player after the game confirmed their suspicions, with The Athletic 's James Horncastle reporting that he'd taken matters into his own hands so Viola manager Vincenzo Italiano wouldn't need to waste a substitution.
Upon joining Fiorentina on loan at the start of the season, Torreira suggested his treatment by Arsenal had threatened his international career with Uruguay. "At Arsenal, I had little continuity of late, which also cost me the call-up to the Uruguay national team in the last chunk of the World Cup qualifiers," he told media in his home country.
His performances in Italy have made it more likely Fiorentina will exercise their £12.5m option to make the loan move permanent. What's more, he has returned to Diego Alonso's international squad ahead of the crucial World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Chile.
Uruguay currently sit in the fourth and final automatic qualifying spot, with their fate in their hands. However, with Peru a point behind them and Chile two points further back, their place in Qatar is far from assured.
A last-minute Maxi Gomez goal gave Uruguay victory over Chile the last time the two sides met in qualifying, while the reverse fixture in Peru ended all square with Giorgian de Arrascaeta getting Uruguay's goal. Torreira, who has 35 international caps, has yet to score for his country.
