In the middle of the stadium in Munich, referee Patrick Ittrich suddenly had something that had never happened to him before: he received a hug – out of gratitude. But on Saturday there was a very good reason why Nadiem Amiri, the FSV Mainz 05 soccer player, was so grateful: With his quick actions, Ittrich had probably prevented the worst in the moments before.
It was the 33rd minute of this Bundesliga game, which Bayern won 8-1, when Josuha Guilavogui, the Mainz defender, stumbled on the halfway line, crashed his face into the knee of his rushing teammate Anthony Caci – and then fell motionless remained lying on his back, arms and legs spread out. The referee Ittrich blew his whistle. Foul, Guilavogui was tripped by the opponent, free kick.
But when he, who is not only a referee but also a police officer, saw the player lying there, he immediately knew that something was wrong. Later, as Ittrich stood in the interview zone of the stadium, he said: “If someone is lying there like that, then you just have to act quickly. There’s no praise there either. It will be done – and done.”
Ittrich: “That’s nothing special for me”
In the 33rd minute he walked towards Guilavogui with quick steps and at the same time gave a command with his hand to the doctors from Mainz: Come! He then put the player in the recovery position and immediately reached into his mouth. His suspicions were correct: the tongue had fallen into his throat because Guilavogui had lost consciousness and therefore muscle tension. When the referee took it out of his throat with his fingers, Guilavogui immediately started “wheezing and breathing,” as Ittrich later said. Shortly afterwards, Guilavogui got up again under his own power – before he was immediately substituted due to a suspected concussion.
Elisabeth Schmelzerl, Munich Published/Updated: Recommendations: 7 Roland Zorn, Bremen Published/Updated: Recommendations: 1 Christoph Becker and Michael Wittershagen Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 4
“This is nothing special for me,” said Patrick Ittrich, who is trained for such cases through his work as a police officer, as he finished describing the scene in the interview zone. He then reminded that it shouldn’t be anything special. And even if that may be true, you could at least tell from Nadiem Amiri’s hug that it was something special.
