Florence, March 8: The funeral of the late Fiorentina captain Davide Astori was held in Florence on Thursday, with former teammates Federico Bernardeschi and Francesco Totti among those in attendance. Astori was found dead in his hotel room at the age of 31 on Sunday, hours before Fiorentina were scheduled to play away to Udinese.
Udine's public prosecutor has attributed the player's death to natural causes, with an autopsy indicating heart problems were to blame.
Allegri & the Juventus players arriving at Davide Astori's funeral in Florence to applause from the Fiorentina fans. Emotional scenes. pic.twitter.com/TGild2Jndk
— Tarek Khatib (@ADP1113) March 8, 2018
The unexpected loss of the popular figure has plunged Italian football into mourning, with all of last Sunday's Serie A matches postponed after the tragic news emerged.
A minute's silence was held before all Champions League games this week, while two of Astori's former clubs, Fiorentina and Cagliari, have retired his number 13 shirt as a mark of respect.
Giorgio Chiellini with a touching tribute to his friend Davide Astori 💜
— ODDSbible (@ODDSbible) March 7, 2018
🎥 @btsportfootball
pic.twitter.com/KYYHr27DAo
The funeral at the Basilica di Santa Croce was attended by family, friends, players and official representatives of Italian football, with members of the public gathered outside.
Fiorentina's senior side, youth squad and women's team were present at the service, joined by former teammates including Totti, Giuseppe Rossi and Alessandro Florenzi. The funeral proceedings began at 10 am local time.
Fiorentina tweeted: "In honour of Davide Astori's memory, Cagliari and Fiorentina have decided to retire the No 13 shirt."
Cagliari added: "To honour their memory and make indelible the memory of David Astori, @acffiorentina and @CagliariCalcio have decided to jointly withdraw the jersey with the number 13." They even changed their name to Ciao Davide.
A tearful Bernardeschi was applauded by Fiorentina supporters upon arrival, despite his acrimonious departure from La Viola to Juventus in July.
Also present among the numbers were the Juventus team, fresh from their 4-3 aggregate win over Tottenham Hotspur at the Wembley Stadium in London. Gianluigi Buffon and others had flown back to the Italy to attend the funeral.
"He's always in our heart, tomorrow we go to give our last 'ciao' together with our teammates," Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini had said after the Spurs game.
The funeral united rival managers AC Milan's Filippo Inzaghi and Inter Milan's Luciano Spalletti, with the latter also bringing in his first team into the church.
Source: OPTA