Spurs star victim of botched armed robbery

Tottenham Hotspur Emerson Royal has lived to tell the tale after a gunman targeted him on Thursday night in a botched attempted robbery.

The 2021 signing from FC Barcelona was leaving a night club at around 3AM in his hometown of Sao Paulo in southeastern Brazil and stopped to take a photo with an off-duty police officer.

This was when a man pointed a gun at the 23-year-old demanding his belongings, according to O Liberal, who have corroborated the information with local police. But the officer acted quickly and drew his gun before opening fire on the thief, which allowed Royal to escape unharmed from the incident which occurred outside New Trips on the most famous street, Avenida Paulista, in South America’s largest city.

No fewer than 26 shots were fired in total, 17 of which were by the robber as nine were fired back at him in return. With one shot hitting him in the back, the assailant required treatment at a nearby hospital where he underwent surgery to remove the bullet on Friday morning.

The Qatar 2022 World Cup hopeful was out celebrating with family and friends and managed to get to a police station to file a report with his father, who has spoken to Globoesporte regarding the scare which has left the player shaken.

“I was celebrating and on the way out, this whole affair happened, which was very bad,” said Royal’s father while describing a “horror scene” that he wouldn’t “wish on anyone”.

“He [the policeman] went, as usual, with Royal to the car and when he realized there was a robbery and the criminal was pointing the gun at Emerson, the policeman started to exchange shots with him at the time the criminal got distracted.

Royal’s father said there were around five or six people with the player, and each one went to a different direction “running” and “dodging” as they didn’t know where the shots were coming from.

Also talking to Globo briefly, Emerson said that it was a “complicated moment” and added that he planned to rest and then speak out on the matter after. 

On Instagram, Royal reiterated this by promising to comment soon yet also thanked everyone for their concern and insisted he was fine, thank God. 

In a well-received maiden campaign for Spurs, Royal made 41 appearances and also scored a goal while helping the North Londoners reach the qualifiers for the next edition of the Champions League.  

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