Former Inter defender Massimo Tarantino has spoken about his role in disarming a knife attacker, after a shocking incident in which Monza defender Pablo Mari was stabbed.

The attack sent shockwaves around Italy and the rest of the world on Thursday, as a man armed with a knife launched a frenzied attack on bystanders in a supermarket in Milan that left one dead and four injured, including Arsenal loanee Mari.

Tarantino was at the supermarket at the time and managed to disarm Andrea Tombolini, and recounted the horrifying incident in an interview published in today’s newspaper edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I was at the checkout line with my wife and 22-year-old daughter, having gone shopping,” Tarantino said.

“At one point I started to hear screams, but screams of pain and fear.

“I saw this man running towards us with a knife in his hand, my first reaction was to put myself in front of my family to protect them.

“Then he struck an employee who was a metre away from me and in the clash they fell to the ground,” the 51-year-old continued.

“It was at that moment that I had the clarity to approach and kick to the hand that was still holding the knife, but the weapon didn’t go far so I pushed it away and blocked his hand with my foot.

“He didn’t try to escape, it was like he had himself go, as if he had died.”

Former Udinese and Flamengo defender Mari had been in the supermarket at the same time and was stabbed by the assailant, with the Spaniard set to undergo surgery on his back.

Tarantino revealed that whilst he hadn’t seen the 29-year-old on the scene, he had seen Mari’s family immediately after the attack.

“I saw his wife and son near the tills, when it was all over and the rescuers were intervening, but I think Pablo was hit in the central area, between the aisles. That’s where the first screams came from and the alarm,” he concluded.

Tarantino spent most of his career at Napoli and Bologna, making 100 appearances for the former between 1989 and 1996, and 89 for the latter between 1997 and 2002.

He had a brief spell with Inter in 1996 but failed to establish himself with the Nerazzurri.