‘Serious explosions’ hit football team bus
Three explosions went off near the team bus of top German side Borussia Dortmund as the team set off for a Champions League quarter-final match.
Police said that they were working on the assumption that the blasts ahead of last night’s match against Monaco were caused by “serious explosive devices” which may have been hidden in a hedge near a car park.
They did not elaborate on the possible nature of the devices or say who might have planted them ahead of the first-leg match, which was subsequently called off and re-scheduled for
today. Officers said that the explosions occurred as the Dortmund team bus left a hotel on the outskirts of the city in western Germany.
It was travelling towards the stadium, which is around six miles away, at around 7pm local time.
A window on the bus was damaged and Spanish defender Marc Bartra was injured.
Bartra was taken to a hospital. Dortmund chief executive Hans-joachim Watzke said later that the player was injured in the arm and hand “but nothing life-threatening”. Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Buerki said the team bus had just pulled out of the hotel driveway when an explosion – a “huge bang” – happened and sent glass flying. The Switzerland international said he was sitting in the last row of the bus, next to Bartra.
Bartra was hit by shards from the broken back window, he added. Players ducked for cover, wondering whether there would be more explosions.
“We’re all shocked – nobody thought about a football match in the minutes after that,” he said.
Inside the packed stadium, supporters of Monaco, who plays in the French league, chanted “Dortmund, Dortmund” in sympathy with the German side. Dortmund residents, for their part, used social media to offer accommodation to stranded Monaco supporters ahead of their rescheduled match in Europe’s premier club foot- ball competition. “The team is totally shocked, that’s clear. It’s our task now to digest this somehow because it’s only 24 hours before we have to play. That’s our job,” Watzke said.
He added that there was “no alternative” to rescheduling the match for today, as Monaco also have to play at the weekend and the return Champions League match is scheduled for next week.
“It’s a very unfortunate situation but there was no other way,” he said.
Stadium spokesman Norbert Dickel informed fans of the postponement, saying that there was “no reason for panic here at the stadium”.
German justice minister Heiko Maas wrote on Twitter: “Shocking news. Our thoughts arewith(borussiadortmund). You’ll never walk alone.”
In Hannover, in November 2015, Germany’s international football friendly against the Netherlands was cancelled just before kick-off after police feared an explosive device might be detonated at the stadium.
It came days after devices were detonated outside the Stade de France in Paris as France were playing Germany, three people dying in a suicide bombing which was part of a co-ordinated attack on the French capital.