Physical fitness helped soccer player in Italy knife attack

MILAN (AP) — The surgeon who operated on soccer player Pablo Marí’s wounded back says being in top physical form helped the Spaniard avoid life-threatening injuries in a knife attack at an Italian shopping center. Niguarda hospital surgery and trauma director Osvaldo Chiara says “the surgery was a relatively simple one” since “there were only two damaged muscles.” Chiara adds that Marí’s “muscular mass is such that the length of the knife that was used couldn’t pass through the rib cage and hit his lung.” The Monza club in Serie A that Marí plays for on loan from Arsenal has asked Serie A to postpone its next game against Bologna on Monday.