There has been an outpouring of help from Dortmund football fans for stranded AS Monaco supporters. Following the explosives incident on Tuesday evening just before the match between the two sides in a Champions League quarter-final, which injured Dortmund centre-back Marc Bartra, the game was delayed by 24 hours to 6:45 pm CET on Wednesday.
Dortmund fans opened their homes and hearts to fans of the Monaco-based team, using Twitter hashtags #bedforawayfans and #tableforawayfans, and many Monaco supporters happily took up their offers.
One Dortmund fan, who said he had three beds available at his flat near the stadium, tweeted a photo with the Monaco fans he hosted, captioned: “Football unites.”
On Wednesday German police arrested a suspect with Islamist links following a bomb attack in which three explosive devices containing metal fragments were used on the bus of the Borussia Dortmund football team.
Prince Albert commented to RTL: “We had news of the Dortmund players little by little and we knew there was an injured player, that the other players were safe, and that our players were safe.
“Sport mustn’t be taken hostage by madmen, because there are no words to describe these unbalanced people while we wait to learn of their motives.
“It’s beyond football, it’s disgusting and horrible. It’s perhaps not the best solution to play the day after an incident of such a scale.”
Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke in a statement said: “We don’t play only for ourselves today. We play for everyone, no matter your club – Borussia, Bayern or Schalke.
“We want to show that terror and hate will never dictate our actions. And we of course also play for Marc Bartra, who wants to see his team win.”