Romanian linesman Octavian Sovre asked Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland for his autograph after Tuesday’s Champions League tie with Manchester City so he could auction it off for an autism charity.
Sovre was captured by BT Sport cameras asking Haaland for his autograph in the tunnel of the Etihad Stadium after City had beaten Dortmund 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
The Dortmund striker obliged, signing Sovre’s yellow and red cards that had been used in the match.
And it has now been revealed that the signed cards are to be auctioned off for charity SOS Autism Bihor Association.
According to Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor, Sovre has been collecting signatures from top footballers in recent years and donating them to the charity to auction off and raise money.
SOS Autism Bihor Association president Simona Zlibut told Gazeta Sporturilor: “That autograph is for a noble cause.
“Maybe people don’t know, but Tavi (Sovre) is directly involved in supporting this Association.
“Tavi and I were colleagues in kindergarten, our parents are from Sanmartin and he decided to come to us, the parents who made this association, knowing that we cannot finance ourselves in any other way.”
