Footballer Torreira recounts Istanbul assault: 'He planned to kill me'

Galatasaray's Uruguayan star Lucas Torreira has spoken for the first time about a violent assault he suffered in Istanbul. The 30-year-old footballer recounted the incident during a program in his home country. Torreira explained that after playing padel with his family at a hotel, he was approached by a couple asking for a photo. As he was descending the stairs, one individual punched him.

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One person came up to me, and just as I thought they wanted a photo, they suddenly punched me.

"I responded instinctively, and the man fell," Torreira said. His driver and friends intervened. He later learned the attacker was an obsessed stalker of a close female friend and had targeted him after seeing a photo of them playing padel.

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I responded instinctively, and the man fell.

At the police station, Torreira discovered the man had mental health issues and had been writing negative things about his mother for a year, planning his murder. "What hurt me more than the punch was my mate's racket breaking," he stated. He also described receiving medical attention from a friend who had just been released from prison, using a phone flashlight in a parking lot while en route to the hospital for a report. The incident prompted him to change his flights and return early, but he emphasized that it does not diminish his positive perception of the Turkish people, viewing it as an exceptional case.

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I later learned at the police station that he was mentally unstable and had been writing bad things about my mother for a year, planning to kill me.