Ginter mulled quitting football after bomb attack

BERLIN: World Cup winner Matthias Ginter told a German court on Wednesday that he considered quitting football in the wake of last year’s bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus.

“We are always exposed to a great risk,” said Ginter, clearly still carrying the effects of the April 11, 2017 attack. “I have also thought about whether it is still worthwhile to take this risk again and again. “Nothing is 100 percent secure, that’s why I did not want to give up something which is fun.”

Ginter, 24, was testifying in the trial of German-Russian Sergei Wenergold, who has admitted to detonating explosions in an elaborate bid to make a fortune on the stock market. He wanted to cash in on so-called put options, essentially bets on a falling share price. The 28-year-old electrical technician faces 28 counts of attempted murder as well as setting off explosions and causing serious bodily harm.

A tearful Ginter broke down in court in Dortmund while testifying. He was describing the moment the blasts hit the team bus on the way to their Champions League quarter-final, first leg at home to Monaco. The attack left his then team-mate Marc Bartra, who now plays for Real Betis, with a fractured wrist.

“Shortly before we left for the match, I was talking to Marc Bartra,” Ginter told the court. “He knew the left-back from Monaco and gave me some tips. “I sat in the left rear (of the bus). Then there was a loud bang.”

Ginter stopped abruptly to cover his face as he sobbed and needed several minutes to compose himself. “Everyone was lying on the floor (of the bus). Splinters flew in. There was smoke inside. Marc cried out. We did not know what was going to happen next,” he said.The triple blast last April 11 shattered the team bus’s windows, with a police officer also suffering inner ear damage.Prosecutors say the three fragmentation bombs each contained up to a kilogramme (2.2 pounds) of a hydrogen peroxide mixture and around 65 cigarette-sized metal bolts.