JAPAN star Shinji Kagawa says he is still haunted by the April 11 bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus.
“I was frightened – and I am still frightened, to be honest,” the 28-year-old wrote on his Japanese blog. “I’m afraid to get on the (team) bus, I am afraid to drive to games.”
Kagawa, like the rest of the Dortmund squad, was left shell-shocked when three bombs blasted the team bus on the way to a Champions League quarterfinal home match against Monaco.
Defender Marc Bartra needed surgery on a fractured wrist and a policeman was stunned by the blasts, which Kagawa said he “immediately felt” was an attack.
“At that moment, I could not say anything – I could not move,” he added. “I was petrified, – I looked back and saw the shattered window panes. “I saw Marc Bartra curled up. Like everybody else, I was completely shaken.”
The first-leg match was postponed, then played less than 24 hours after the bomb attack.
Dortmund ended up losing 3-2 at home and Kagawa, like many of his team-mates, admits he was playing in a daze. “In my head was only the scenes from the bus and thoughts of the hellish detonation,” he said.
“When we heard the match was to take place the next day, I couldn’t imagine playing it — I don’t think any of us could.” — AFP