The football world was rocked on Sunday morning by the shock announcement that 31 year old Fiorentina defender Davide Astori had died. Now the club and his former side Cagliari have honoured his memory by both retiring their number 13 shirts.
On Sunday, ahead of their game against Udinese, Fiorentina captain Astori was found dead in his hotel room. The news led to the suspension of all of Sunday's Serie A games.
Tributes poured in for the Italy international as teammates and fans tried to make a sense of the horrible news that their hero had suffered a heart attack at such a young age.
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In the greatest tribute possible both Fiorentina and former side Cagliari, where Astori made 174 appearances in eight years as a player, have decided to retire their number 13 shirts, announcing the news on Twitter:
The news means that no player will ever wear Astori's 13 for either club again and continues a respectful trend in Italy that is often used for retired legends of a club, like Paolo Maldini at Milan or Javier Zanetti at Inter.
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The move also mirrors the move taken by both Manchester City and Lens at the passing of Marc Vivien-Foe although the Cameroon midfielder wore different number for those sides with City retiring 23 and Lens retiring 17.
Yesterday the English FA confirmed that they would pay tribute to the former Italy international when the two sides play in a friendly later this month saying, "All of us at the FA are truly saddened by the news of Davide Astori's death. Our condolences are with his family and all who knew him. We plan to honour Davide when we host the Azzurri at Wembley Stadium later this month.
There can be no greater mark of respect than retiring his jersey, fair play to both Fiorentina and Cagliari.
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football News, Serie A, Davide Astori, Fiorentina, Italy