Hours before facing Manchester United (9:00 p.m.) in the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals, Sevilla goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic has spoken about the attack suffered in the PSV Eindhoven field, where a fan jumped onto the pitch and pounced on him: "He came from behind, I didn't see him," he recalled. “It takes you by surprise, you don't know what's happening. Who pushed you? Why?", he asks himself in an interview with the English newspaper The Guardian.
The attacker was intercepted by Dmitrovic himself, who immobilized him until the stadium security members arrived: “They did tests on him and he had a lot of alcohol in his blood, he was drunk. Perhaps he didn't have the strength to get further into the field and I was the closest and that's why he attacked me. I managed to stay calm and get him out until security arrived. It wasn't pretty, but I was good."
After the incident, the goalkeeper received a bouquet of flowers from the Eindhoven fans, as an apology for the embarrassing attack by one of his fans. A man who was expelled from the club in an exemplary sanction: “PSV sanctioned him for 40 years, so they are aware of the mistakes made. It's a great, historic club, with passionate fans, and one man can't stain a whole fan base." Dmitrovic focuses on the organization and warns that the outcome could have been more serious: “If a fan jumps, there is an organizational failure. It shouldn't happen. This ended well, but in Turkey [at Sivasspor], a Fiorentina player [Alessandro Bianco] was beaten and injured. He could have carried a weapon, seriously assaulted someone, or hurt them.”
Weeks later, also in Europe, the Sevilla goalkeeper was struck by a lighter in a tense match against Fenerbache in which all kinds of objects rained down from the stands. "He has a hard head," his partner Nemanja Gudelj joked then. Despite the tension of the match, the Andalusian team managed to qualify for the quarterfinals, where tonight they face Manchester United. Dmitrovic is confident that there will be no more scares at Old Trafford: “People are passionate there, but I don't remember any incidents in England. I'm sure the atmosphere will be great, nothing will happen except a few whistles. And what else can I say about Old Trafford? All the players would love the chance to play there."
