SV Mainz 05 of Germany striker, Taiwo Awoniyi has reached out with a text message and telephone call to the German referee that saved his life with quick and smart first aid treatment when he fell awkwardly during a recent league match, megasportsarena.com reports.
Awoniyi said he will forever be grateful to the match arbiter for quickly attending to him after a clash of heads with Augsburg’s Nigerian-born defender, Felix Uduokhai left him unconscious after only 17 minutes in the German Bundesliga encounter at Opel Arena early last month.
The 22-year-old product of Imperial Soccer Academy of Odogbolu in Ogun State and is currently on loan at Mainz from Liverpool of England recollected that he was affected both mentally and physically before he was eventually stretched off, but thanked the referee for saving his life and, his wife, family members, teammates, friends and fans for their rain of good will messages.
Awoniyi, who suffered severe concussion and was immediately rushed to the hospital, where he spent a night then missed his club’s next three matches, added “For me, there are a lot of things that I see that gets me amazed but when I saw that picture it really got to me and I was like, ‘Is this me?’
“Honestly, I must commend the referee. I had to send him a text and call him because when I saw the picture of what he did, it was like a saving hand indeed. He said he was also glad that I am alive and well and he is looking forward to seeing me next season if I am still there.
“For my wife, it was something I can’t explain. My agent kept calling her because she was alone in the house watching the game. My family, my mum and my dad were crying and I had to call them immediately I regained consciousness to tell them that everything is fine before they believed I was fine.
“It was a really scary experience. My dad tried to be strong. He said he was praying that everything would be fine, but when my brother started crying he couldn’t hold it anymore so he started crying also. And then my mum joined in.”
