29-year-old footballer Richard Galea - one of the victims of last Sunday morning's knife attack in Paceville - said he is a “gladiator on the football pitch and hopes that the horrific incident won’t affect his football career or his positive and jolly character”.

Mr Galea, who is the father of a five-year-old boy, added: “It could have been worse and I am lucky I survived the attack. It’s more shocking to realise that my son could have easily ended up without a dad.”

Mr Galea – who currently plays for Zurrieq – sustained grievous injuries to his face after a Libyan went on a rampage in Paceville knifing anyone who crossed his path.

Mr Galea was slashed from cheekbone to mouth and lost a large amount of blood.

Six people were seriously injured that night as a result of the attack which was described by many “as a surreal scene”. One of the injured – a Dutchman - was in critical condition but his condition has now improved.

Following the attack, Mr Galea underwent plastic surgery and is recovering at his Kirkop home.

Mr Galea currently plays for Zurrieq but to his dismay, the incident has forced him out of the team for the season’s first game against his former club, that of Zabbar, on Sunday.

He told The Malta Independent: “I am concerned that this incident can end my career as a footballer and my fear is that I would end up being hit in the face.”

Libyan Ehab Zorgani (photo), 22, of Tripoli, was on Monday charged with the attempted murder of two people and injuring another four. He was remanded in custody.

Mr Galea explained that he was accompanied by his partner that night and the two were walking to his car. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man hurling insults in Maltese with a Libyan accent hit him with a pointed instrument and the next thing he knew he was trying to hold part of his face from falling off.

“I don’t even know what hit me at the time, I thought I was punched in the face. But then I realised what had happened. I don’t even know if it was a flick knife or something bigger that the man slashed my face with,” a shocked Mr Galea recounted.

He continued: “A nurse who happened to be in the vicinity wanted to see what sort of injuries I sustained to my face but I refused to remove my hands which were covering the wound because I feared part of my face would fall off.

“In fact, eventually I gave in and removed my hands and blood started gushing out like mad. Both myself and another victim were placed next to each other until the ambulances arrived at the scene. So much blood started to come out from the two of us that it looked like a scene from a horror film. There was a river of blood,” he said.

While praising nurses, doctors and surgeons at Mater Dei Hospital for their interventions, he said that Paceville needed more police presence and better street lighting since the alley where he was attacked is dark (further down from the former Axis discotheque).

Asked whether this incident will change the way he views life, he said: “The incident only happened a few days ago so things are still fresh in my mind. I just hope I can erase it eventually.

“I thought I had woken up from a bad dream but it wasn’t the case,” Mr Galea said.

“It looked like the devil was inside the aggressor,” he said, adding that the “sight will most likely remain imprinted in my memory.”

Asked whether he forgives his aggressor, he simply said that it’s not normal for a person to put his middle finger up to the media, referring to the fact that he (the agressor) made gestures to the media when he was charged in court on Monday.

He expressed his wish for establishments in Paceville to cooperate with police and release CCTV footage of the incident.

He said that the aggressor was also going for his partner at one time but some people who were in the area defended her.