Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is still shaken after a duel with Bayern Munich midfielder Jamal Musiala, which caused a major injury to the Bavarian player. "I'm very shocked by what happened, it was certainly not my intention to injure Musiala," Donnarumma told the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper on Monday.
Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is still shaken after a duel with Bayern Munich midfielder Jamal Musiala, which caused a major injury to the Bavarian player.
"I'm very shocked by what happened, it was certainly not my intention to injure Musiala," Donnarumma told the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper on Monday.
German international Musiala completely twisted his left leg while in a scramble for the ball against Donnarumma and PSG defender Willian Pacho in which he got hit by the Italian keeper late in the first half of the 2-0 defeat by PSG on Saturday.
He fractured his fibula and dislocated his ankle and will be sidelined for a "long period," Bayern said.
"It was a matter of a tenth of a second. Gigio was first to reach the ball and couldn't avoid the contact," Donnaruma's agent Vincenzo Raiola said.
"It's unfair to think that he wanted to hurt Musiala, who we hope will recover as soon as possible to return stronger than before," he added.
After the duel, Donnarumma seemed disoriented as Musiala laid in pain on the ground.
"He didn't want to pretend nothing happened, Gigio is a very sensitive guy," Raiola continued.
He said that Donnarumma even texted him during half-time - something that has never happened before as Donnarumma usually turns off his phone an hour before kick-off and only turns it on again once the game is over.
"This time he sent me a message to tell me he was shaken and that he hadn't done it on purpose," Raiola said.
Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer stressed that he didn't believe Donnarumma intentionally caused the injury, but accused his counterpart of a reckless challenge when he told reporters that "It was a situation where you don't necessarily have to go in like that."
Neuer also questioned whether Donnarumma was really moved by Musiala's fate as he added: "I went to him and told him: 'Don't you want to go there? Jamal is lying there, he'll probably stay in hospital, he's got a serious injury. It's simply a matter of respect to go there, wish him well and leave a little apology."
Donnarumma preferred to walk away and let the doctors handle the situation.
"I understand Neuer. And he's right when he says that one can behave differently. But we're all different and we behave like we can. It was a game incident in the eternal duel between goalkeepers and forwards," Raiola said.
He also remembered that Neuer was involved in a similar situation during the 2014 World Cup final when he came out of the goal to jump and punch the ball away, inadvertently kneeing Argentinian forward Gonzalo Higuain on the head in the process.
"He then apologized although he admitted that he wanted to avert a danger for his team, knowing that he risked hurting the opponent," Raiola said.
Category: General Sports
