Basel supporter finally makes the return leg

Rudolf Bantle went missing after a Uefa Champions League match between Inter Milan and Basel at the San Siro in August 2004. AP Photo

A 71-year-old man who spent 11 years living rough after getting lost following an Inter Milan v Basel Uefa Champions League game, has returned to his native Switzerland, reports said yesterday.

Rudolf Bantle was age 60 when he travelled with friends to Milan in August 2004 to watch Basel take on Inter in a Champions League qualifier.

After Inter stretched their lead to 4-1 and with five minutes remaining, Bantle went to the toilet, a decision that was to have drastic consequences and change his life forever.

Upon returning, he failed to find his travelling companions.

With only €20 (Dh80) in his pocket and no mobile phone, Bantle was left stranded in Milan, where he spent the next 11 years living on the streets and getting by thanks to the kindness of locals.

He was listed as a missing person by Swiss police in 2004 and with no information as to Bantle’s whereabouts, the case was shelved definitely in 2011.

According to Swiss newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag, whose report was carried by Italian sports daily Gazzetta dello Sport yesterday, Bantle is now living in a pensioner’s home in his native Basel.

But for the locals who helped Bantle in Milan’s Baggio neighbourhood, the news has come as something of a surprise.

“Is it true? I didn’t hear anything about him, I really thought he had died,” said Sergio Mazzarelli, a librarian who like many locals got to know “the nice Swiss guy with the German accent” over the years.

In true “tifoso” (fan) style, after Basel’s defeat Bantle went on to support Inter’s local rivals, AC Milan, whom he followed on the television at local shops.

The local students who came to know Bantle and helped him with spare change and clothes even gifted him a Milan shirt with the name of Milan great Kaka on the back.

Mazzarelli said Bantle “was a legend in this area”, adding that the story about him getting lost at the San Siro was circulating “but no one knew if it was true or not”.

“He was never keen to speak about himself. But everyone liked him. People brought him food and fresh clothes and he helped people when he could.”

One student, Riccardo Foa, who has since become a doctor, told Gazzetta: “He didn’t even have a local doctor. We used to take care of him ourselves.”

Bantle told Schweiz am Sonntag that “one guy gave me a sleeping bag and saved my life”.

Despite eventually being recognised following appeals by the Swiss authorities, Bantle refused to return home, until a fall decided otherwise.

He broke his femur and while in hospital the Swiss consulate ordered his transfer to Basel.

Bantle now has a roof over his head and a monthly stipend of €300, the Swiss newspaper reported.

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