Javier Bardem, Spain's oscar-winning actor, is in Hannover where he has had a herniated disc operated on by Hans-Wilhelm Müller Wohlfahrt, the surgeon who looks after Germany's national football team.

The operation took place at the International Institute for Neurological Science in the northern German city.

According to the German magazine, 'Bunte', Bardem has been in Germany for several weeks already and watched the Champions League final in a bar in Düsseldorf. 

The same sources confirm that actress Penelope Cruz has accompanied Bardem to Germany and is helping him to recover from the operation.

Bardem allegedly suffered the herniated disc as a result of having to pick up an actress during the filming of 'Biutiful', directed by Mexicam Alejandro González.