Felix Götze, brother of the former World Cup winning goalscorer Mario, reacted with disbelief to the events in his club Rot-Weiss Essen’s third division game at Dynamo Dresden (2:2).
“Yesterday I cried for the first time in my football career. Not because of the pain, but because it was humiliating to be insulted, spat on and thrown at with my face bleeding and in shock. There are limits and unfortunately they were exceeded yesterday,” wrote Götze Instagram.
The 26-year-old was taken off the pitch on a stretcher with a bleeding laceration. He was then bid farewell with shouts of “goodbye” from the Dynamo fan block. The paramedics also had to protect him from projectiles from the curve with umbrellas.
Dynamo issues statement
Dynamo Dresden has now reported on the allegations. “Despite all the sporting rivalry, the idea of fair play on and off the pitch should be in the foreground in every situation, especially when players are injured,” said head of communications David Fischer in a club statement. He asked Götze to apologize for the incidents.
“I love this sport and I appreciate all the fans, because without you football wouldn’t be what it is,” Götze continued: “But, despite all the emotions, certain limits simply cannot be exceeded – that was unfortunately the case yesterday . There is a person in every jersey that is worn down on the pitch!”
Götze was injured during a rescue operation shortly before the end. He collided with Jakob Lemmer from Dresden and was then carried off the pitch.
