‘Don't judge him' – Darts star reveals Michael van Gerwen's words to him straight after shocking ‘pub player' slur
The outburst caused outrage in the media - but Ljubic has now come to the aid of his Dutch opponent.
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Van Gerwen's insults included calling his opponent a "pub player" as well as saying "[Ljubic] won a few legs and it feels like his birthday".
However - speaking to Polish darts outlet Okiem Darta - Ljubic downplayed the severity of Van Gerwen's jibes.
The Croatian revealed that Van Gerwen apologised for his comments immediately - and asked people not to leap to conclusions.
He said: "Michael apologised to me straight away. We know each other well, and I know he meant no harm.
"Don't be too quick to judge – emotions can take over in moments like that.'
Van Gerwen and Ljubic were drawn against each other in the Poland Darts Masters last week.
Van Gerwen - ranked third on the PDC Order of Merit - was expected to demolish his opponent, who sat 140 places below him in the rankings.
Instead, the three-time World Championship winner stumbled to just a shaky 6-4 victory, prompting his shocking post-match comments.
Ljubic said: "He was just frustrated with his own performance.
'For me, what matters most is someone's honesty – not what the internet says."
Darts star Michael van Gerwen rips into 'pub player' rival Pero Ljubic
Ljubic's classy reaction even extended to paying his legendary opponent compliments.
He added: "During a later chat, he even gave me some motivation. He's a genuinely decent guy and a top-class player."
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Van Gerwen was eventually knocked out of the tournament in the quarter-finals by Englishman Rob Cross.
Welsh star Gerwyn Price would take the silverware in the end however, narrowly beating Stephen Bunting 8-7 in a tense final.
List of all-time Darts World Champions
BELOW is a list of darts world champions by year.
The list does not include winners from the pre-Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) era or BDO world champions.
That means Raymond van Barneveld, for example, is only listed once - Barney also won four BDO titles - and none of Eric Bristow's five BDO titles are included.
1994 - Dennis Priestley
1995 - Phil Taylor
1996 - Phil Taylor (2)
1997 - Phil Taylor (3)
1998 - Phil Taylor (4)
1999 - Phil Taylor (5)
2000 - Phil Taylor (6)
2001 - Phil Taylor (7)
2002 - Phil Taylor (8)
2003 - John Part
2004 - Phil Taylor (9)
2005 - Phil Taylor (10)
2006 - Phil Taylor (11)
2007 - Raymond van Barneveld
2008 - John Part (2)
2009 - Phil Taylor (12)
2010 - Phil Taylor (13)
2011 - Adrian Lewis
2012 - Adrian Lewis (2)
2013 - Phil Taylor (14)
2014 - Michael van Gerwen
2015 - Gary Anderson
2016 - Gary Anderson (2)
2017 - Michael van Gerwen (2)
2018 - Rob Cross
2019 - Michael van Gerwen (3)
2020 - Peter Wright
2021 - Gerwyn Price
2022 - Peter Wright (2)
2023 - Michael Smith
2024 - Luke Humphries
2025 - Luke Littler
Most World Titles
14 - Phil Taylor
3 - Michael van Gerwen
2 - John Part, Adrian Lewis, Gary Anderson, Peter Wright
1 - Dennis Priestley, Raymond van Barneveld, Rob Cross, Gerwyn Price, Michael Smith, Luke Humphries, Luke Littler
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'I did phone up Wembley the week after, to say that I helped out, and just wanted to get an update on how the guy was. I never heard anything.' He said he would have expected to have heard from the stadium following the incident. Mr Hunter said: 'The stewards around knew what I'd done, and (I was first) on the scene. I thought someone would have contacted me.' He thinks Wembley should consider making changes to the stands and include additional safety features. Mr Hunter said: 'To have one accident's unfortunate, I can understand that. But now someone's died from it.'
