Thaindian News

Madrid, Aug 9 (DPA) Spanish football was in a state of consternation Sunday after the tragic death of Espanyol captain Daniel Jarque.
Jarque, 26, died Saturday evening of a heart attack in his hotel room, in Coverciano, close to the Italian city of Florence.

Jarque, on tour with Espanyol, was talking to his girlfriend on the telephone when his voice cut out. The girlfriend called team-mate Ferran Corominas, who went up to Jarque’s room with a club official - and found the defender dead after suffering a massive heart attack.

Italian police have found no suspicious circumstances surrounding Jarque’s death, although he had never complained of any heart problems, nor had any been detected by the Espanyol doctors over the years.

The 2007 UEFA Cup finalists Espanyol decided to cut their Italian tour short, to return to Barcelona later Sunday and drive out to the club’s new stadium, in the Barcelona suburb ot Cornella, to pay tribute to their captain.

Hundreds of Espanyol fans gathered around the stadium’s gate 21 in honour of Jarque, who wore the number 21 shirt since joining the club in 2002.

Many fans have already requested that the stadium, which was inaugurated just two weeks ago, be named after Jarque.

Jarques’ body will be repatriated Monday, after the Italian authorities have carried out an autopsy.

Jarque’s death was front-page news in every Spanish newspaper Sunday, with many sections of the press linking his death to that of Sevilla’s Antonio Puerta in 2007.

Puerta, aged 22, died four days after suffering a heart attack while playing for Sevilla against Getafe. Since then, the Spanish sporting authorities have tried to be more aware of the possible heart problems of footballers and other sportsmen.

In October 2008, Real Madrid’s Ruben de la Red, 23, collapsed during a King’s Cup match against Union Irun and had to be rushed to hospital with a suspected heart attack. He has not played since while club doctors strive to determine the nature and extent of his problem.

“This is really horrendous,” said Espanyol technical secretary German de la Cruz Sunday,” it is something that we just cannot understand.”

There was a minute’s silence for Jarque during Saturday night’s friendly between Valencia and Arsenal. After the match Valencia star David Villa said that “we are all really upset at this … Daniel was a good person and a great player.”

Real Madrid captain Raul said Sunday: This unexpected news has left us consternated and tremendously sad … It is a pity for football.”

Ernesto Valverde, who guided Espanyol to the 2007 UEFA final and is now coach of Villarreal, said on Sunday that “this has been a really disagreeable piece of news. Daniel was a healthy boy and extremely strong. It is incredible that this has happened.”

Meanwhile, Barcelona president Joan Laporta said that “we are very sorry about this. Today we are all in mourning.”