MARC BARTRA SAYS pride is his overwhelming emotion four days on from the bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus that caused him to suffer the longest 15 minutes of his life.
Bartra suffered a wrist injury in the incident that saw three explosions go off near the vehicle as it made its way to Signal Iduna Park prior to the Champions League quarter-final, first leg against Monaco.
The Spanish defender has subsequently undergone surgery and is expected to miss at least four weeks.
After a visit from his family, Bartra opened up on the events of Tuesday night.
He wrote in an Instagram post: “Today I’ve received again a visit that makes me the happiest. They are my everything, the reason I fight to overcome every roadblock, and this has been the hardest of my life. I do not wish this on anyone.
“The pain, the fear, not knowing what was happening or how long it would last… It was the longest 15 minutes of my life.
“I want to say that the shock is wearing off every day and is replaced by the will to live, to fight, to work, to laugh, to cry, to feel, to love, to believe, to play, to train, to enjoy my people, my loved ones, team-mates, my passion, to defend, to smell the grass before a game, like I usually do to motivate me before a game.
“To see the stands filled with people who love this sport, good people who only want us to feel the emotion of football to forget about the world, especially the world we live in which is crazier than ever.
“The only thing I ask, THE ONLY THING, is that we ALL live in peace and leave wars behind.
“These days when I look at my wrist, swollen and broken, do you know what I feel? Pride. I look at it and feel proud thinking of all the harm they wanted to cause and that it ended only in this.
“Thank you to the doctors, nurses, physios, and everyone who help me recover and help my wrist be back to perfect.
“To the thousands and thousands of people, the media, all organisations, BVB and team-mates who have sent me your support and love… even the smallest gesture has filled me with the strength to ALWAYS move forward.
“I needed to get this off my chest and put it behind me so I can be at 100 per cent as soon as possible!”
