They took advantage of the first of the five goals of the match to send him a poignant nod. Large winners of Nottingham Forest on Sunday (560) and now leaders of the Premier League with two points ahead of Manchester City, the Arsenal players displayed a flocked shirt bearing the name of their former teammate Pablo Mari.
The central defender, on loan this season from the London club to Monza, was stabbed in an Italian hypermarket in Milan while shopping with his wife and son. The tribute was appreciated at the Emirates, where the Spanish footballer played for a season before going on two loans to Udinese then Monza.
He was able to return to his home on Sunday
Pablo Mari, 29, was hit in the back on Thursday. He was successfully operated on Friday, before leaving the Niguarda hospital in Milan on Sunday, where he had been taken care of. He was able to return to his home, where he will now begin “a period of complete rest”, his club said in a press release.
Mari had been assaulted by a 46-year-old man with a visible mental illness, who grabbed a knife from a shelf and killed an employee, injuring the player and four others. The attacker was arrested by the police after being disarmed by a former professional footballer, Massimo Tarantino, ex-defender of Napoli and Inter Milan.