Wolves star Rui Patricio tells how masked attackers threatened to kill him
Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio has told how masked attackers threatened to kill him and his former teammates while playing in Portugal.
Patricio was part of the Sporting Lisbon team which came under attack from around 50 hooligans at the club's training ground shortly before his move to Wolves.
The Portugal international told a Lisbon court hearing how one of the attackers threatened to break his jaw during chaotic scenes which saw players and coaching staff punched and kicked.
The thugs stormed the training ground in May 2018 attacking players and trashing the dressing room.
Patricio joined Wolves for £15.8 million the following month and has become a star of Nuno Espirito Santo's side.
The training ground attack was apparently part of his motivation to leave the Lisbon club, where he had been since a child.
He told the hearing via Skype on Monday: "I was in the dressing room getting ready for practice when I heard noise and I noticed fans shouting in the dressing room, where the squad was mostly.
"Vasco Fernandes, who was our technical secretary, tried to close the locker room door but he couldn't. They came in with their faces covered and started attacking.
"They didn't talk to anyone, they started attacking. They came in very aggressively. They came with everything. They came in, I don't know if they were coming to kill, but they came with everything."
The goalkeeper continued: "You could tell there was a lot of confusion. We didn't know who had been beaten up.
"There was confusion, there was smoke, there were shouts. When they entered the locker room they threw torches.
"We tried to calm them down, but they were very aggressive. They told us to take our shirts off they said 'you are a shame' and we are going to kill you. It was a very stressful moment."
Patricio told the court how he was threatened when he tried to protect one of his teammates, William Carvalho.
After trying to separate one perpetrator from Carvalho, "three or four" more individuals grabbed the midfielder and began to punch him.
Patricio then said one of the members turned to him and said: "Are you laughing? You want to leave, I'll break your jaw."
Dutch international Bas Dost was pictured with cuts on his head after the attack.
Patricio, who won Euro 2016 with his national team, said he saw Dost "getting stitches in the head and head coach Jorge Jesus bleeding from his mouth and nose".
The shot-stopper's statement came as part of an ongoing trial of former president of Sporting Lisbon Bruno De Carvalho and 43 other defendants for their alleged roles in the incident.
The attack was allegedly motivated by the team's disappointing year in both the Portuguese League and the Champions League but prosecutors claim former club president De Carvalho 'ordered' the attack.
