From the very beginning, São Paulo fans and players showed enormous solidarity with Uruguayan footballer Juan Manuel Izquierdo, who collapsed on the pitch at the Morumbi stadium during a round of 16 match of the Copa Libertadores.
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The 27-year-old defender of Nacional de Montevideo died on Tuesday. He suffered “brain death after a cardiorespiratory arrest associated with an arrhythmia,” according to the latest medical report from the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, where he was taken after the accident.
One of São Paulo’s players, Argentine Jonathan Calleri, had already made his credit card available to the medical centre to cover the costs of Izquierdo’s treatment. And on Thursday, five of them, captain Rafinha, Uruguayan Michel Araújo, Wellington Rato, Galoppo and Calleri travelled to the player’s wake. The family decided to cremate him and so there was no burial.
“We did it from the heart. It happened on our pitch, in our stadium and we all felt like he was part of our family,” Rafinha said: “We wanted to be here… to wish strength to the family, to the lady, to the parents,” he added.
Without them on the pitch, São Paulo faced Atlético Mineiro on Thursday in the first leg of the Copa do Brasil quarter-finals. Before and during the game there were several tributes to Izquierdo.
The arrival of the São Paulo squad at the Morumbi stadium was marked by a great welcome, with sky-blue smoke flares in tribute to the deceased footballer.
In addition, Izquierdo’s image was shown on the stadium screens and before the match began, players from both teams gathered in the centre circle for a minute of silence. All of São Paulo’s shirts had the surname Izquierdo on the back.
Fans in the stands took out white balloons and began to shout “Uruguay, Uruguay.” 51,432 spectators attended the game, which the tricolor from São Paulo lost 0-1. The rematch will be on September 12.
The club’s fans recorded everything in an emotional video on social media with the phrase “He wasn’t on our team, but he fell in our house, in front of our people. Then he became one of us.”
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