Antonio Puerta, Miklos Feher, Dani Jarque, Marc-Vivian Foe, and Choirul Huda are names that are certainly no stranger anymore. They all died while still actively grazing. Now, the row of names is increasing one: Davide Astori.
Until the end of last week, exactly Friday 2 March 2018, almost all followers of Serie A focus on three games: Lazio vs Juventus, Napoli vs AS Roma, and Derby della Madonnina.
Entering Sunday morning, March 4, 2018, local time, they are still talking about the three games. Understandably, the victory of Juventus and Napoli's defeat will make the Scudetto seizure increasingly fierce (second place, Juventus, only one point dispute with the first rank, Napoli). Milan vs Inter, meanwhile, is busy talking because it is one of the hottest derbies in Italy.
Fiorentina are scheduled to face Udinese at the Friuli Stadium later in the day. However, about three hours before the start of the game, the club's official Twitter account announces that Astori is gone. He died in his sleep, at the age of 31 years. Astori left his wife, Francesca Fioretti, and a 2-year-old daughter.
Not long after that, Serie A confirmed that all the remaining matches were postponed, including the match between Cagliari - former Astori team (2008-2014) - against Genoa which was almost already the first. Players from both teams know the news while heating. Genoa goalkeeper Mattia Perin can not hold back his tears.
Juventus goalkeeper and Italian national team, Gianluigi Buffon, who claimed rarely publicly expressed his feelings, gave an emotional farewell.
"For you, I feel the need to make an exception because you have a young wife and family, as well as a small child who must know that his father is really a good-hearted person," Buffon wrote via his personal Instagram account. "You are the best expression of the classical world with the values of altruism, elegance, decency, and respect for others. This compliment is really sincere because you are one of the best footballers I have ever met. "
Former Astori colleague Fiorentina, who was on loan with Espanyol, Carlos Sanchez, was unconscious when he was told about Astori's death. He will fly to Italy to attend his friend's funeral.
The expression of grief is constantly coming from all over the world. The English Football Association (FA) is even ready to make a test match against Italy at Wembley Stadium on 27 March.
For the big family and the supporters of La Viola themselves, Astori's reliance is a very loud blow. He is one of the mainstay in the back line and is believed to wear the armband since the beginning of this 2017/18 season.
"This feels like an impossible thing to me. I can not believe it, "wrote former Italian Prime Minister and Firenze Mayor Matteo Renzi on his Twitter account. The fence of the Artemio Franchi Stadium has been filled with flowers and scarves.
Astori's death must have been surprising. He has no history or signs of illness. In fact, before going to bed for the last time, he played PlayStation with Fiorentina goalkeeper Marco Sportiello until midnight.
Investigator Antonio De Nicolo said, based on the results of the latest investigation, former AC Milan academy players allegedly died of a heart attack. If true, obviously this is a fairly sad thing to remember Italy is actually one of the advanced countries in anticipation of sudden death of players.
In the book IOC Manual of Sports Cardiology, it is explained that the Italian government requires each city to have at least one clinic dedicated to athletes, both professional and amateur. Especially for Serie A and Serie B football players, they are allowed to be examined by a team of club doctors with consultant supervision, but must still pass through cardiovascular system examination, including 12 lead and echocardiography electrodiagram, once every six months.
This law was created as a form of anticipation of the Italian government against the sudden death of a heart attack, which is no other reason for the death of the most common athlete. As a reminder, before Astori, Italian football had already lost Renato Curi (Perugia) in 1977, Giuliano Taccola (Roma) in 1962, and Piermario Morosini (Livorno) in 2012 on similar cases.
"In our country, there is tighter control than any other country in the world. By checking that we do, the risk of sudden death of professional athletes drops by 89%, "said Professor Carlo Tranquilli, a sports medicine specialist who has long been part of the Italian U-21 national team, as quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.
This is the paradox of football, as well as sport in general. Although athletes maintain physical fitness and the government has tried, in the end fate is also the determining. Death is inevitable, and all we can do now is to give up Astori.
Reference: panditfootball.com