The death of Juan Manuel Izquierdo has left Nacional de Montevideo, and the whole of Uruguay, in a deep sense of despair.
He died on August 27 at the age of 27, five days after collapsing on the pitch during Nacional’s Copa Libertadores round of 16 match against the Brazilian club Sao Paulo. A week after his tragic passing, those closest to Izquierdo search for answers, hoping to make sense of the senseless.
“My heart is torn, it’s bleeding,” his wife Selena wrote on social media. Izquierdo leaves behind two children, the youngest of whom was only two weeks old when he died.
“I couldn’t return to the pitch for training. I didn’t have the strength to do it,” said his Nacional team-mate Diego Polenta in the days that followed.
Then, on Sunday, his club Nacional played against the team he had left to join them, Liverpool de Futbol Club. The players from both sides walked on to Nacional’s Estadio Gran Parque Central pitch wearing shirts that featured Izquierdo’s picture and the badges of both clubs.
There was a moment of silence as the players shook hands. It was eerily quiet. The chanting had stopped. The drums fell silent. When the cameras focused on Polenta, the hard-nosed defender was visibly emotional. It was clear how difficult a moment it was for him…
