Burgos undergoes cancer op

The Atletico Madrid custodian was only diagnosed with the illness on Friday after having complained of gastric problems for the last couple of weeks.

However, the decision was taken to operate on the 33-year-old as quickly as possible, and the club revealed to planetfootball.com that the operation had been a success.

"Everything went well and the biopsy confirmed that the tumour was malignant," explained Atletico medical chief Jose Maria Villalon.

The Argentine will remain in hospital for the forseeable future, but Villalon was hopeful that the illness would not return.

"There is a 95% chance that the cancer will not reappear, and we are confident that in around two months, he would be able to return to the field of play."

Burgos' shocking revelation is the second high-profile cancer case to hit Spanish football in recent times, after Deportivo La Coruna custodian Jose Francisco Molina successfully overcame testicular cancer.