Felix Götze, brother of former World Cup winning goalscorer Mario, reacted with bewilderment to the incidents at his club Rot-Weiss Essen's third division match at Dynamo Dresden (2:2). "Yesterday I cried for the first time in my soccer career. Not from pain, but because it was humiliating to be insulted, spat at and thrown at with a bleeding face and in shock. There are limits and unfortunately they were crossed yesterday," Götze wrote on Instagram.
The 26-year-old was stretchered off the pitch on Saturday with a bleeding laceration. He was then bid farewell with shouts of "goodbye" from the Dynamo fan block. The paramedics also had to use umbrellas to protect him from projectiles thrown from the crowd.
"I love this sport and I appreciate all the fans, because without you, soccer wouldn't be what it is," Götze continued: "But, despite all the emotions, certain boundaries simply must not be crossed - unfortunately, that was the case yesterday. There is a human being in every jersey worn down on the pitch!"
Götze had injured himself shortly before the end during a rescue operation. He collided with Dresden's Jakob Lemmer and was subsequently carried off the pitch.
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