Pablo Mari, an Arsenal defender, was stabbed in a shopping centre near Milan and brought to the hospital. One person was reported dead, and at least three others were injured apart from the footballer.

Raffaele Palladino, Monza manager, is expected to meet the 29-year-old on Thursday night.

Arsenal, who acquired Mari from Brazilian team Flamengo in 2020, has loaned him out to Italian club Monza.

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Although hospitalised, Mari “seems to be OK,” assured Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal manager.

Who is Pablo Mari?

Pablo Mari Villar is a Spanish professional footballer, born on August 31, 1993, and now plays as a centre-back for Serie A side Monza while on loan from Premier League club Arsenal.

Mari obtained his degree from Mallorca’s youth programme and spent his entire playing career with several clubs in Spain, the Netherlands, Brazil, England, and Italy. With Flamengo, he won the Copa Libertadores and Série A in 2019, and that year, he was a member of the Série A Team of the Year.

Mari joined the English Premier League team Arsenal on January 29, 2020, on a season-long loan with the opportunity for Arsenal to make the agreement permanent in the summer.

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Edu, the technical director at Arsenal, said: “Pablo is an experienced player who will provide us with additional defensive quality. We have been monitoring Pablo’s career for a while and we are very pleased to have reached agreement with Flamengo for him to join us initially until the end of our season.”

Before the season was interrupted due to the COVID-19 epidemic, Mari made two appearances for Arsenal, a 2-0 FA Cup victory at Portsmouth and a 1-0 Premier League victory at home against West Ham.

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Mari suffered an injury while competing in the opening match of the new league on June 17, 2020, a 3-0 loss to Manchester City. Following the game, Arsenal announced that he would miss the rest of the campaign due to a “significant” ankle injury. Despite this injury, Arsenal declared on June 24 that Mari would become a permanent member of the team on July 1 for an unknown price once the summer transfer window opened.

Mari scored his first goal for Arsenal on December 3, 2020, when the Gunners defeated Rapid Wien 4-1 at home in the UEFA Europa League.

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Mari joined Serie A team Udinese on loan on January 20, 2022, and stayed there through the end of the 2021–2022 season.

He was loaned to Monza, a newly promoted Serie A team, on August 11. On August 14, Mari played his first game for Monza in a 2-1 Serie A loss to Torino.

Mari featured in the Amazon Original sports documentary All or Nothing: Arsenal, which followed the club’s 2021–22 campaign by spending time with its players, coaching staff, and personnel both on and off the field.

Mari and his wife Veronica Chacon welcomed a son Pablo Jr. in 2018.

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Mari was one of six people that were stabbed on October 27, 2022, at a Carrefour in Assago, Metropolitan City of Milan. “His life is not in danger, he should recover quickly,” according to Monza’s chief executive after he was brought to the hospital conscious and not in a critical condition.