Paris Saint-Germain defender Serge Aurier has been praised after his quick thinking helped save another player’s life.
Mali’s French coach Alain Giresse thanked Aurier, who has made the headlines recently for all the wrong reasons, for helping a stricken Moussa Doumbia during an Africa zone World Cup qualifier against the Ivory Coast on Saturday last week.
Doumbia “was swallowing his tongue and choking,” Giresse told French radio station RMC.
“That’s when Serge Aurier, along with one of our players, had the presence of mind to quickly put him [Doumbia] on his side and to use his hand to pull his tongue out as he was dying. It was an incredible reaction from Aurier. I spoke to him afterward and I even thanked him for his cool head,” Giresse said.
Aurier had initially caused a social media stir after the game in Bouake, which the Ivory Coast won 3-1, after making a throat slitting gesture following his side’s second goal.
The 23-year-old fullback made the headlines for indiscretions last month when he was sentenced to two months in prison for assaulting a police officer — although in France such short sentences are automatically commuted.
Last season, he was also in trouble with his club after making derogatory comments about his then-PSG coach Laurent Blanc and other teammates, including Manchester United star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, on a social media video post.
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