Professional swallowed tongue
Referee Ittrich prevents drama in the Bayern game
March 10, 2024, 4:59 p.m
Referee Patrick Ittrich defuses an explosive situation during FC Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga game against 1. FSV Mainz 05. It’s not about a penalty or a sending off, but about much more.
1. FSV Mainz 05 went down badly at FC Bayern Munich, 1:8 after 94 disastrous Bundesliga minutes for the relegation candidate. But the result on this Bundesliga matchday almost didn’t matter at all: an incident occurred during the game that didn’t end more dramatically thanks to the intervention of referee Patrick Ittrich.
What happened? In the 33rd minute, Mainz’s Joshua Guilavogui stumbled and crashed face-first into the knee of his teammate Anthony Caci: While Caci quickly recovered from the collision, his teammate Guilavogui remained motionless on the ground, with all his limbs stretched out. Referee Ittrich immediately recognized the danger – and rushed to the Mainz professional: “If someone is lying there like that, then you just have to act quickly. There’s no praise. That’s done – and that’s it,” explained Ittrich after the game. “The tongue was in the back and when it’s out again, you start breathing again and you’re there again.”
Guilavogui had actually lost consciousness, the Frenchman’s tongue had slipped down his throat and he was in danger of suffocation. Ittrich, a police officer by profession and appropriately trained, immediately put Guilavogui in the recovery position, reached into the professional’s mouth and pulled his limp tongue out of his throat. The Mainz professional Nadiem Amiri immediately recognized the drama of the situation: “Nadiem Amiri immediately hugged me because he noticed that it was an explosive situation,” reported rescuer Ittrich. Guilavogui didn’t recover from the situation so quickly: the 33-year-old was immediately substituted because of a suspected concussion.
Referee Ittrich used his time in front of the microphones to make an appeal: “This shouldn’t be the fault of the police officer, but rather each of us. In everyday life, situations can always happen in which someone needs help.”