Fiorentina Commemorate Astori In Emotional Return To Action

Florence, Italy, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 11th Mar, 2018 ) :Fiorentina returned to action a week after the sudden death of captain Davide Astori in a home game on Sunday played in a poignant atmosphere.

Last Sunday's Serie A fixtures were postponed after Astori's body was found in his hotel room ahead of an away game against Udinese. After emotional scenes on Friday night as Roma, one of Astori's former clubs, beat Torino, and a commemoration on Saturday at the Verona derby, Fiorentina kicked off Sunday's Serie A action at their Artemio Franchi stadium against last-place Benevento.

For the warmup, all the Fiorentina players and coach Stefano Pioli wore shirts bearing the number "13" and the name "Astori".

The ground was packed on three sides, only the space reserved for visiting fans was largely empty.

One banner in the crowd read "Ciao captain", another "Our captain forever" and purple smoke from flares to match the colour of Fiorentina's shirts filled the sky. The screens played a video homage to the club's late skipper.

The flags above the curved stands at either end of the long, narrow stadium flew at half mast. The stadium announcer included "Number 13, forever our captain, Davide Astori" in the line-up. A post-mortem examination found that Astori, who was 31, most likely died from a cardiac arrest linked to the slowing of his heart rate.