Cahill breaks nose in tough tackle

Socceroos talisman Tim Cahill is nursing a painful broken nose after coming off a second best in a red-blooded tackle in the Chinese Super League.

Cahill suffered the injury when the Shanghai Shenhua player flew into a tackle midway through the second half against powerhouse Guangzhou Evergrande last night.

In footage of the incident, Evergrande attacker Gao Lin is doing a superb job of holding the ball, twisting and turning from the home defence by the corner flag.

But Cahill, running at full steam, slams into the Chinese international and puts an end to his trickery.

However, the challenge leaves the Australian clutching his nose and blood pouring down his face.

Needing medical attention, Cahill was substituted a couple of minutes later and after the game, which Shanghai lost 3-0, revealed on Twitter his nose was "a little broken".

Tough night. Nose a little broken but got my babies to take care of me. More upset we lost tonight ������ pic.twitter.com/H7ePNhSjYi

— Tim Cahill (@Tim_Cahill) May 1, 2015