After the scare, the relief. Monza footballer Pablo Marí (29), has had successful surgery on his back muscles. The Spaniard has been in Niguarda hospital since Thursday night after being the victim of an attack by a 46-year-old man who stabbed him in the back while he was in the shopping centre in Assago, south Milan.

The defender is expected to be discharged in three days, but will not return to the field until January. According to Niguarda's director of general surgery Osvaldo Chiara, it was his musculature that saved the footballer: "The muscle mass is such that the knife did not reach the lung, if it had, the situation could have been much more risky." Monza's managing director Adriano Galliani (78) is of the same opinion: "If he didn't have athletic muscles, the knife would probably have sunk deeper..."

In the meantime, a backstory on the assault has emerged: the 46-year-old attacker was stopped and disarmed by former Inter defender Massimo Tarantino (51). The former footballer, now sports manager, described the situation as follows: "He was shouting, just shouting," before downplaying what he had done: "Me, a hero? I didn't do anything..."

Following the incident, Galliani himself confirmed that he had requested the postponement of the next match, scheduled against Bologna: "The team is in shock, we have asked the Lega for the postponement of the match against Bologna on Monday." Shortly after leaving hospital, the Brianza manager also spoke about the team's reaction to what happened to Marí: "We have a cohesive, united dressing room, where everyone is a friend. Last night everyone was crying. Pessina cried for half an hour..."

Mari himself has posted a message on Instagram, giving the 'thumbs up' from his hospital bed. "After the hard moment we experienced yesterday, both my family and I want to communicate that fortunately we are all fine despite the circumstances, and we want to thank all the messages of support and affection that we are receiving," he wrote.

"In addition, we want to send our condolences and all our strength to the family and friends of the deceased person, and we sincerely wish that all injured people recover as soon as possible.