Jack Grealish described his dramatic afternoon at St Andrew's as the best day of his life after helping Aston Villa secure victory in the Second City derby despite being assaulted by a pitch invader.
A man has been arrested following the incident in the first half of the match, which saw an intruder run onto the field of play and punch Grealish from behind.
The midfielder was not badly hurt by the incident and he responded in the best possible way by scoring the winning goal for Villa on 67 minutes.
And despite his earlier trauma, the visiting captain was in fine spirits at full-time.
'It's the best day of my life,' said Grealish.
'To come here for the first time to captain Aston Villa, it's what dreams are made of -especially as an Aston Villa fan.
'I was just unaware of it (the incident) at the time, I think we had a throw-in in the corner. I was walking into position and I felt a whack around the side of the face.
'Obviously there's rivalry and stuff in football but I don't think there's any place for that really. But I just tried to get on with my job in the end and I think I did, scored the winner and we've come away with three points.
'It was unbelievable (to score the winning goal) in front of our fans. After what happened in the first half I think it was set up for it! Like I said, captaining the club was something I've dreamed of since a little kid.'
Arsance-12
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Imagine if he had a knife 🔪 . Football spectators are getting out of hand and this could lead to serious injuries and problems.😢