Italian football is getting back to work

– Italy’s Serie A resumes this weekend after six days clouded by grief following the sudden death of Fiorentina captain Davide Astori (left).

Last Sunday’s fixtures were postponed after Astori’s body was found in his hotel room ahead of an away game against Udinese.

That match was immediately called off. The rest of the day’s Serie A programme followed as Italian football reacted with shock.

On Thursday, thousands of mourners, team-mates and the cream of Italian football gave Astori, a defender who played 14 times for his country an emotional send-off in Florence.

Fiorentina must take the field again when they entertain Benevento

Rome

tomorrow.

Fans have turned the outside of the Artemio Franchi Stadium into a memorial to the popular Astori with shirts, scarves and banners, many saying “Ciao Capitano”.

Fiorentina have commissioned special match shirts bearing the same phrase and are planning a ceremony to commemorate the 31-year-old defender. The club, like another of Astori’s former teams Cagliari, have said they will retire his No 13 shirt.

Tickets had already been reduced to €1 for women in celebration of International Women’s Week. Now the fans will bid farewell to a player Milan Badelj, in his funeral tribute, called a man with a capital “M”. –