Monza CEO Adriano Galliani confirms Pablo Mari received deep cuts to his back and lip after the frenzied stabbing attack in a supermarket. ‘He said he wanted to be on the pitch on Monday.’
The defender on loan from Arsenal was in the supermarket near Milan when a 46-year-old Italian man who had been in psychiatric care took a knife from the shelves and began randomly stabbing and slashing at people nearby.
Pablo Mari happened to be in the store at the time and suffered a deep cut to his back, so was taken to hospital for stitches.
He will have surgery on Friday for the wounds on his back, but has already received stitches to his lip.
One person in the attack has been confirmed dead, a cashier at the store.
“He was pushing the trolley along with his child in the seat, his wife next to him, and felt this pain in his back.
“I imagine his height was what saved him, because he was caught here on the shoulder. Unfortunately, he saw that this delinquent stabbed someone in the throat. He saw everything that happened. It was shocking,” Galliani told Sportitalia.
“He has some cuts to his back and to his mouth. He can’t remember what happened there, he perhaps got into a scuffle with that person, but he received two stitches to his lip. He has cuts to his back that fortunately only caused lesions to the muscles and not the lungs or any vital organs. He is not in danger.
“Of course it has shocked the team. They wanted to come here, we asked them not to, because there can’t be too many people at the hospital. His wife is here, she is being interrogated as a witness.
“I keep thinking about this poor person, I was told it was a 30-year-old the cashier who was killed.”
Galliani was asked how Pablo Mari was doing psychologically after such a traumatic experience?
“He seemed relatively ok on a psychological level, but then I am not a medic. He is clear-headed. Pablo is so strong, he said I want to be on the pitch on Monday evening. He has incredible strength.”
Monza are set to play against Bologna at the U-Power Stadium on Monday evening.