Former Napoli defender Massimo Tarantino does not believe he is a hero, despite stepping in to halt the man responsible for multiple stabbings at a supermarket near Milan.
One person died and Monza's on-loan Arsenal defender Pablo Mari was among five who were injured during a terrifying incident on Thursday.
A suspect was arrested after he was disarmed by Tarantino, who has explained what prompted him to step in.
He told Stats Perform: "I was with my wife and daughter, we were at the till. We were putting the stuff on the checkout belt, and we realised [that something was going on], because there were very loud screams. We all kind of stopped at the tills, trying to figure out what was going on.
"But then there were more screams, one after the other in the space of a few seconds. At that point, the whole supermarket was kind of frozen, trying to figure out what was going on.
"After a few seconds, from one of the aisles right next to our till, someone came out who was probably one of those who had been stabbed; he was shouting for help and had blood all over his shirt. At that point there was a bit of panic, because people were clearly running away as they couldn't understand what had happened.
"After a few more seconds, another man came out. It was the person with the knife who was unfortunately aiming at the tills where I was with my wife and child. There wasn't much distance from that lane to the tills, about fifteen metres. So the instinctive reaction was to push my wife and daughter away and run.
"He was already almost there [close to me]. But in front of me there was this other employee who was between me and him, and he got stabbed. In the stabbing, they probably both lost their balance and fell into the checkout shelves where all the sweets are. Then I had the instinct not to run away.
"I had taken a step back, but I didn't run away and took advantage of the fact he was on the ground. I kicked him in the hand where he held the knife, and at that point he lost it, but it wasn't too far away, so I quickly ducked down and threw it far away and immobilised him. At that point he had no reaction.
"All of this happening in an atmosphere of terror, with blood on the ground. A bit of a strange atmosphere."
In spite of his actions, Tarantino – who played for Napoli between 1989 and 1996 and coincidentally also had a loan spell with Monza during his career – refused to be labelled a hero.
"No, I don't feel it belongs to me [this role] and I'm also a bit uncomfortable [with it]," he said. "I think heroes are other people. There are definitely people who do things that are impossible to do. They deserve, perhaps, that recognition.
"I, again, just found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time, and maybe instinctively decided to make the right choice, but nothing more than that."
The 51-year-old said his instinct was to "protect my family" and insisted it was not something he thought a great deal about at the time, adding: "I think these are irrational moments. I didn't think, I didn't reason. I just saw this person heading towards us.
"I think the first instinct is to protect my family, so I just had the instinct to move them away, to get them away, to run away. Immediately after he stabbed the employee, so a metre and a half away from me, my first reaction was to move one step back; but afterwards my instinct probably didn't make me run away, but told me that maybe that was the ideal moment to help.
"So I didn't go back, and I kicked this person in the hand holding the knife. But again, these things are irrational. When I think about it, it wasn't a calculated, intentional thing, it was just an instinctive reaction."
Tarantino confirmed he and his family are fine after the ordeal, though reiterated sympathy for those who were harmed.
"Yes, luckily for us it went well, unlike others; but we all came back home uninjured," he said. "On the one hand we're happy; on the other, I repeat, we're still sorry for everyone who unfortunately got caught up in this.
"The only message I have is that I want to wish the best of luck to all the people who suffered this physical assault and who have to deal with this problem right now.
"Then I think that all the other people, probably like me, like my wife and daughter, have had a bad night, a huge scare, and I hope that they, all of us, will get over it as quickly as possible.
"But the biggest wish goes out to all the people who suffered this physical attack; and I feel a huge sorrow for the family of the person who didn't make it."
Mari stated that he and his family are "fine" after the Spanish defender underwent back surgery following the attack.
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Al-Riyadh 0-1 Al-Nassr: Mane hands visitors bragging rights
Sadio Mane's first-half strike ensured Al-Nassr maintained their unbeaten start to the Saudi Pro League season with a 1-0 win over rivals Al-Riyadh.
He smartly finished from close range in the 41st minute, with his goal enough to seal the three points and move Al-Nassr up to third in the table.
Al-Nassr's threat grew as the first half went on, with Milan Borjan making a fine double stop to deny Ronaldo and Talisca once again before Mohamed Simakan struck the post on the rebound.
Mane would eventually break the deadlock in the 41st minute though, darting in front of his marker to meet Abdulrahman Ghareeb's low cross and rifle it into the roof of the net.
The Senegalese striker arguably should have doubled his tally before the break, but was denied by Borjan's stretching save when one-on-one with the Canadian.
Talisca should have wrapped up the points in the final three minutes, but he blazed over an empty net from close range, before having a late goal disallowed for offside.
Data Debrief: Derby delight for Al-Nassr
After drawing their last two matches, this win was a welcome result for Al-Nassr as they racked up their sixth victory of the season to close the gap at the top of the table to six points.
It is just the second time Al-Nassr have avoided defeat in their first 10 matches of a Pro League campaign, last doing so in 2013-14, when they won the league title.
They are now unbeaten in their last seven Pro League derbies (W4 D3), their longest such streak since a run of nine between 2018 and 2020.
This is the first time in eight such games that they have kept a clean sheet though, and limited their opponents to just five shots throughout.
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