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Arsenal send touching tribute to Pablo Mari during Nottingham Forest game
By Henry Burt
Arsenal paid tribute to their on-loan defender / IAN KINGTON/GettyImages
Arsenal's players took time out during their emphatic win over Nottingham Forest to pay tribute to Pablo Mari, who was stabbed earlier this week.
The team showed their support for their colleague by holding up a shirt with his name on it after Gabriel Martinelli put the Gunners in front against Forest.
Mari, who has spent the season thus far on loan at Serie A outfit Monza, was one of five people to be stabbed during a horrific attack at a supermarket outside of Milan. While the 29-year-old was fortunate enough to avoid death or any life-changing injuries, he will now miss two months due to an injury to his back muscles suffered during the attack.
Others were not so lucky, with a checkout assistant tragically losing his life as a result of the attack.
Mari was forced to undergo surgery in the immediate aftermath of the incident, but took to Instagram later on to update anxious supporters and offer his condolences to the family of the deceased.
"After the hard moment we experienced yesterday, both my family and I want to communicate that fortunately we are all fine despite the circumstances, and we want to thank all the messages of support and affection that we are receiving," Mari wrote on social media.
"In addition, we want to send our condolences and all our strength to the family and friends of the deceased person, and we sincerely wish that all injured people recover as soon as possible."
Mari joined Arsenal in 2020 from Brazilian outfit Flamengo, initially arriving on loan before making the move permanent later that year.
Since then, however, the defender has failed to hold down a place in Mikel Arteta's squad and has spent the last two seasons on loan with Udinese and Monza respectively.
Arsenal FCNottingham Forest FCPremier LeagueSerie AMikel Arteta