With the LA Galaxy not in action until Sunday night, Jonathan Dos Santos had the opportunity to watch his brother Giovani, himself a former Galaxy player, start the biggest game on the Liga MX calendar: the Superclásico between Club América and Chivas Guadalajara.
Sadly, it did not play out the way anybody would have wanted. Though América eventually won 4-1, that was probably secondary to the Dos Santos family, who had to watch from afar as Gio suffered a horrific first-half injury injury, the victim of a tackle from Chivas' Antonio Briseno that saw the opposition player catch Gio's knee with his cleat, opening up a significant gash. Briseno saw red for the challenge, but Gio had to be whisked to the hospital. After watching the scenes play out, Jona sent the following message to his brother:
"[I feel] powerless seeing those images and not being able to do anything…" reads the younger Dos Santos' tweet. "I wish that I could say ‘that’s football’, but this time it’s not like that… Much encouragement and strength, brother! [Gio], I love you very much! Vamos Club América!"
Gio — who made 77 appearances for the Galaxy between 2015 and 2018 before moving to América just prior to the start of the 2019 season — certainly appeared to be in better spirits on Sunday morning, upon the news that images showed no serious damage and he was expected to be back on the field in six weeks. He tweeted the following from his hospital bed:
"Thanks to everyone for your messages and prayers!" he said. "Everything turned out very well, thank God! I will return soon and even stronger."
