- Canada's Atiba Hutchinson left the pitch with a bloody nose during a World Cup match against Croatia.
- The Maple Leafs captain returned to the field moments later with a tampon stuffed up his nose.
Canada's captain left the pitch during the second half of Sunday's do-or-die World Cup matchup against Croatia.
But just a few moments after he ran to the sidelines with a bloody nose, Atiba Hutchinson returned to the game with an unorthodox solution to stop the bleeding during his 100th appearance for the Maple Leafs.
Medical staff stuffed a tampon — yes, a tampon — up the midfielder's nose.
—Football Away Days (@FBAwayDays) November 27, 2022
Fans were quick to draw comparisons between Hutchinson's move and an iconic scene from the 2006 Amanda Bynes film "She's the Man." In the movie, Bynes' character goes undercover as a boy in order to show that she can keep up with her male counterparts on the soccer field. But when she first moves into her dorm room in disguise, her new roommates are understandably confused and question her when they spot a box of tampons in her suitcase.
Needing a quick excuse, Bynes' incognito character desperately explains that he gets "really bad nosebleeds" and sticks them up his nose to stop the flow of blood.
"Beckham does it all the time," Bynes explains, adding: "It absorbs right up!"
Turns out Bynes' character was right; Hutchinson was able to get back in the game thanks to the efficacy of his unconventional "medical device." Unfortunately for the Canucks, however, their captain's return wasn't enough to help them claw back into the match.
Despite opening scoring in the second minute of the contest, Canada lost a 4-1 decision to the Croatian national team, putting the Leafs in last place in Group F. With the defeat against 2018 Ballon d'Or winner Luka Modric's side, the Maple Leafs bowed out of Qatar 2022 — the first World Cup they qualified for since Mexico 1986 — in the group stage.