ARSENAL star Pablo Mari says he is lucky to be alive after being stabbed in a deadly knife attack in Italy last night.
The centre-back was shopping with his wife and baby son at the time of the shocking incident at a supermarket near Milan which left one dead and five others injured.
Local media reported a 30-year-old checkout worker died after a man grabbed a knife from the shelves and started attacking random people in the Milanofiori di Assago shopping centre around 6.30pm.
A 46-year-old suspect – believed to have mental health problems – has been detained with police ruling out terrorism as a motive.
Mari, 29, was airlifted to a hospital in Milan along with the other victims.
The defender, who is on loan at Serie A outfit Monza, revealed how he was stabbed randomly in the back before seeing the attacker kill another person.
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Mari has released a heartfelt message following his horrifying ordeal.
The defender said: “After the hard moment we experienced yesterday, both my family and I want to communicate that fortunately we are all fine despite the circumstances.
“And we want to thank all the messages of support and affection that we are receiving.
“In addition, we want to send our condolences and all our strength to the family and friends of the deceased person, and we sincerely wish that all injured people recover as soon as possible.”
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According to Gazzetta dello Sport, he is quoted as telling Monza CEO Adriano Galliani: “I was with the trolley with my child inside and I felt an excruciating pain in my back.
“Then that man stabbed another in the throat. Today I had luck, because I saw a person die in front of me.”
Mari was kept in hospital overnight and will remain there for several more days.
He underwent surgery on two damaged muscles in his back on Friday.
And Mari is expected to be out of action for at least two months as he recovers.
Meanwhile, Monza chief Galliani explained Mari was stabbed just a few inches from his lung and also suffered a mouth wound.
He is set to undergo surgery but Galliani revealed he is in good spirits and even joked he will be back on the pitch on Monday.
Galliani said: “Pablo is an amazing guy. He had the strength to joke and tell me that he will be back in training on Monday.
“I brought him greetings from [club president Silvio] Berlusconi and everyone else.”
In a tweet he added: “Dear Pablo, we are all here close to you and your family, we love you, keep fighting as you know how to do, you are a warrior and you will get well soon.”
An Arsenal statement read: “We are all shocked to hear the dreadful news about the stabbing in Italy, which has put a number of people in hospital including our on-loan centre-back Pablo Mari.
“We have been in contact with Pablo’s agent who has told us he’s in hospital and is not seriously hurt.
“Our thoughts are with Pablo and the other victims of this dreadful incident.”
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta, speaking after his side’s 2-0 loss at PSV last night, added: “I just found out. I know Edu has been in touch with his relatives. He’s in hospital but he seems to be OK.”
Italian outlet Corriere della Sera reported that former Napoli player Massimo Tarantino was among those who helped tackle and disarm the attacker before police arrived.
Tarantino, 51, said: “I’m not a hero. I didn’t do anything special.”
The stabbings are said to have occurred in the Carrefour supermarket on the outskirts of Milan.
One eyewitness said: “Now that we are far away we are calmer, but we were really terrified.
“We did not understand what was happening, we saw people running away in tears.”
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Another told La Repubblica: “We were at the bar and we thought it was a robbery because we saw some boys and a lady running.
“Then we saw more and more people with upset faces and we realised that something serious had happened.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
