An emotional Nuri Sahin has said that he will never forget the faces of his Borussia Dortmund teammates after their bus was targeted with explosives on Tuesday evening.
Three blasts went off as the bus departed for the stadium for Tuesday night's Champions League match with AS Monaco, and defender Marc Bartra required an operation for a broken bone in his right wrist after he was injured in the incident.
Despite the traumatic nature of the attack and the postponement of the original fixture, Dortmund were left with no choice but to play the game less than 24 hours later, with Thomas Tuchel claiming that he and his players were not consulted over the plans.
Sahin, a second-half substitute in Dortmund's 3-2 defeat on Wednesday, told Norwegian outlet Viasat: "It's hard, hard to talk about it, hard to find the right words.
"We saw it a lot of times on TV, it was far, far away from it, even when it was in Istanbul in my country on New Year's Eve. It was close but also very far from us. Last evening we felt how it was like to be in a situation like this. I don't wish anyone to have a feeling like this.
"I get goosebumps. When you were on the bus last night, I can't forget the faces. I will never forget these faces in my life for sure. When I saw Marc there, when I sat next to Schmelzer, and I saw Schmelzer's face, it was unbelievable.
"I don't know if the people can understand this, but until I was on the pitch in the second half I did not think about football to be honest. Last night I didn't realise what happened until I got through the door and my wife and son were waiting, there I felt how lucky we were.
"I know football is very important, we love football, we suffer with football, we love football. I know we earn a lot of money, we have a privileged life, but we are human beings, and there is so much more than football in this world, and last night we felt it."
A number of pundits have criticised UEFA's decision to reschedule the game so soon after the attack, with Germany legend Lothar Matthaus deeming the European football governing body "irresponsible" and "incomprehensible".
Giuseppe Labellarte
