Nuri Sahin’s emotional interview shows Dortmund 2 – Monaco 3

Dortmund lost 3-2 in a breathless rearranged encounter, which Tuchel claims his side were told they had to play by a text message from UEFA.

The bus carrying the Dortmund team to the stadium was caught up in the explosion, leaving one person injured: Marc Bartra.

Both before and after the game, Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel expressed anger at being forced to play less than 24 hours after the attack, while an emotional Nuri Sahin said that he had been totally unable to focus on football.

“We were never asked, we were informed by a text message that the UEFA made a decision in Switzerland”. We will not forget it.

“Unless you experienced it, you can’t understand how bad it was for us”. We wanted to have a bit more time to deal with it. There is a feeling of helplessness.

Despite Tuchel’s words, Roy Keane felt is was the right decision for the game to be played last night. I don’t wish a feeling like this on anyone.

“They treated it as if a beer can had been thrown at the bus”.

“The faces from the bus, at that moment (of the attack), will stay with me for the rest of my life”.

“I encouraged everyone to take the game seriously but football is not the most important thing in the world”.

UEFA official Giorgio Marchetti told CNN Sport Wednesday he had encountered “nothing of this nature” before.

Clearly missing Bartra in defense and possibly still shocked by the attack on their bus, Dortmund conceded two goals in the first 35 minutes.

With the Twitter hashtag #bedforawayfans, Dortmund supporters offered numerous 3,000 visiting fans a kip for the night, while Borussia Dortmund’s official account also promoted the initiative.

Unsurprisingly, security was tightened for the match following an incident German chancellor Angela Merkel had described as “repugnant”.

Authorities also searched the home of a second suspected Islamic extremist but prosecutors said Thursday there were no indications he was involved in the bus attack.

He travelled to Turkey in March 2015 and remained in contact with members of IS after arriving in Germany in early 2016, prosecutors said.

Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, who attended Dortmund’s match on Wednesday, said the “fascination” surrounding football drove terrorists to try and disrupt it.

As outlined by Sahin, the Dortmund players are very aware that they have a privileged lifestyle, but at such a hard time for these men in their professional lives, it’s reassuring to see that they’ve a coach who’s a firm believer in the personal touch.

Undeterred by the previous night’s bomb attack, 65,849 fans filled the Westfalenstadion.

“I’m a player, when you’re under pressure, you have to keep a clear head, be calm”.

Kylian Mbappe grabbed a brace for Monaco, with Sven Bender scoring an own goal.