DORTMUND RAP FOR UEFA
BORUSSIA DORTMUND coach Thomas Tuchel launched a fierce attack on UEFA chiefs after being made to play Monaco less than 24 hours after a terror attack on their team bus.
Tuchel said his team “felt completely ignored” after the Champions League quarter-final first leg was postponed on Tuesday after three explosions near the Dortmund bus as it made its way to the stadium, injuring Spanish defender Marc Bartra. The player posted a picture of himself yesterday on social media smiling and on the road to recovery, right.
UEFA rescheduled the tie for last night at 5.45pm and Monaco ran out 3-2 winners. UEFA authorities claimed they made the decision after consulting both teams but Tuchel said he and his players were not asked.
“We weren’t asked at any point. We were told by text message that the decision had been made in Switzerland,” he said in post-match interviews.
“We will not forget it, it is a very bad feeling. A few minutes after this attack, the only question that was asked was, ‘Are you ready to play?’ As if we had thrown a beer on our coach.
“At that time, we did not know the reasons for this attack. There is a feeling of helplessness. The date was imposed on us. What we think has not interested anyone. We weren’t asked about playing the game. I just wanted
more time, a few more days. When they told us, ‘You’re up tomorrow’, we felt completely ignored.
“We would have liked more time to take stock. This gives you the feeling of impotence, that we have to keep functioning and nothing else matters.
“I encouraged everyone to take the game seriously but football is not the most important thing in the world.”
Bartra, who needed emergency care at the scene before having surgery on a broken bone in his wrist and to remove debris from his hand, wrote: “Hello everybody! As you can see I’m doing much better. Thank you everybody for all your support and your messages. All my strength to my team-mates, supporters and fans.”
Police have arrested a suspected Islamic extremist with investigators confirming their focus has been on two suspects from the “Islamic spectrum”, both of whose apartments have been searched.
The three explosions occurred near the Dortmund team hotel as the squad were travelling to the Westfalenstadion.
The explosives were hidden behind a hedge and were equipped with metal pins – one of which was found embedded in one of the headrests on the team bus. The blast area, prosecutors said, was more than 100 metres.
The German Federal Prosecutor’s Office said three similar letters claiming responsibility found near the site made an Islamic extremist motive possible.
There was even a brief scare last night when police found a suspicious package near the stadium’s exits, but it turned out to be a false alarm.
Dortmund midfielder Nuri Sahin last night spoke of the horror of seeing the faces of his team-mates. “I get goose bumps, when I was on the bus last night, I can’t forget the faces, I will never forget the faces in my life,” said the Turkey star.
“When I saw Marc there and I sit next to Marcel Schmelzer – and I will never forget his face, it was unbelievable.
“It’s hard to talk about, it’s hard to find the right words. We saw it [terror attacks] a lot of times on TV and it was far, far away from us, even when it was in Istanbul in my country on New Year’s Eve. It was close but also very far from us, but last night, we felt what it is like to be in a situation like this and I don’t wish anyone to feel like this.
“I don’t know if people can understand this but until I was on the pitch, in the second half, I didn’t think about football.
“Last night I didn’t realise what had happened when I was at home with my wife and son waiting in front of the door and I felt how lucky we were. We love football and earn a lot of money, have a privileged life. But we are human and there is so much more than football in this world and last night we felt it.”