Sunderland

Sunderland's Fabio Borini: 'Let's focus on football after strange week'

By Danielle Joynson, Staff Reporter | 19 November 2015

Sunderland striker Fabio Borini says that footballers need to focus on the game this weekend after mourning the deaths of those killed in Friday's terrorist attacks.

Sunderland striker Fabio Borini has called on his fellow professionals to focus on football following last week's terrorist attacks in Paris.

The English and French national team stood in solidarity on Tuesday night when they played in a friendly at Wembley, four days after 129 people were killed in Paris.

The Stade de France, where the national team were playing Germany, was one of six locations in the French capital targeted by suicide bombers.

Borini has admitted that the atrocities have affected him, but that his focus is now solely on football as he prepares for Sunderland's Premier League match against Crystal Palace on Monday.

"Players can't be thinking about the wider world or their wider responsibilities this weekend," The Chronicle quotes Borini as saying. "I don't mean to be disrespectful, but you have to think about the game.

"Football is a game of passions and excitement, and we can't forget about that. There was a lot of respect before the England game this week, but once the match started you still saw people making tackles and being emotional - that is the way it has to be."

On the pitch, Sunderland are second from bottom in the league table.