Blood was everywhere, I thought I was going to die...

13 April 2012

Punched unconscious, shoved through a window and left to cower in an ambulance while an angry mob destroyed it, Mamady Sidibe is lucky to be alive.

At 6ft 4in,the Stoke City striker is used to shrugging off football's toughest challenges, but nothing could prepare him for what followed after he played for Mali in their 2-0 win in Togo.

War wounds: Sidibe shows the cast protecting the arm injured by Togo fans

Full-scale riots left many Mali fans with broken legs and gaping head wounds,and several of their players — including Liverpool's Momo Sissoko and former Spurs striker Fredi Kanoute — needed stitches after being beaten by locals at the Kegue Stadium in Lome, the capital of Togo.

Sidibe was punched to the floor in a pitch invasion that followed the final whistle.After being carried towards the dressing room, he regained consciousness just in time to be pushed through a window, severing two veins in his right arm.Even then, it took two hours to get him to hospital.

"I thought I was going to die," said Sidibe, in his first interview since the dramatic events of nine days ago.

"I was sitting in an ambulance outside the stadium, feeling dizzy because I was losing so much blood. Outside, the fans were smashing all the windows so I couldn't be taken to hospital. The police moved me into an army ambulance but the crowd destroyed that as well.

"They took me back inside the stadium for my safety. It was two hours before I could get help.They told me I had been cut millimetres from my artery. I was that close to dying. It was a miracle nobody was killed.

"When I got back here and hugged my wife and baby son, it was so emotional. I feel lucky to have survived. I have to think about whether I will play for my country again. I go to Africa to play football, not to put my life at risk."

Stoke could even lose their striker for two months as he recovers from emergency surgery on his arm, but they know it could have been a lot worse.

Chief executive Tony Scholes has written to the FA asking them to investigate and is determined to seek compensation for Sidibe and the club.

"You might expect a player to get injured on international duty, but it was an absolutely terrifying experience for him and we won't let the matter rest."

Sidibe, who left Mali aged two to live in France and has always been proud to represent the nation of his parents, has been on the Mali team coach when it has been stoned by angry fans.

But he has never experienced supporters turning on opposition players so viciously. The stakes were high in Lome with the winners qualifying for the African Nations Cup next January and the losers going out.

World Cup finalists Togo, boasting Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor,were favourites.

"There was no problem between the players, but the Togo fans started to go crazy after we scored the second," said Sidibe, 27, who has been in English football since 2001 with Swansea, Gillingham and Stoke.

"They threw bottles and rocks and attacked our fans.

"After the final whistle, our fans spilled on the pitch — there was blood everywhere. Then the Togo fans came on, hundreds of them, and started to beat everybody — the Mali fans and players.

"Our team tried to stay together on the pitch, but there were too many supporters. I don't know who grabbed me to take me off the pitch. I think I was knocked out because I don't remember anything until I was in the tunnel.

"Everyone was shouting and pushing and my arm went through a window. All the players were being punched and kicked. Momo Sissoko needed two stitches on his head, hit by some kind of weapon, Kanoute on his back. Our goalkeeper was hit on the head with a rock. It was crazy.

"The ambulance driver told the crowd it was a Togo player inside and they should leave the vehicle alone.The fans looked inside and when they saw it was a Mali player, they broke all the windows. I sat there with the glass landing in my face. It was really scary.

"I was moved to a bigger ambulance but they broke the front windows of that. When I saw my arm hanging there with all the blood and people saying we couldn't get to the hospital, I thought I was going to die.The blood was too much — it was like a horror movie. Our fans got off even worse than the players.Some were black men who looked red because there was so much blood."

Back in the Potteries, Sidibe's wife, Benita, watched on in horror as a French cable television station showed the riot.

"She told me later she couldn't stop crying," said the striker. "I have to think about whether I'll play in the African Nations Cup. My father and my wife are telling me not to go. I want to get fit again and we will see. 'African fans don't understand losing. But I have never seen them come on to the pitch and beat the players."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in