Ciao capitano/fiorentina players’ emotional farewell to Astori

Fiorentina yesterday paid an emotional tribute to Davide Astori when they played against Benevento in their first match since their former captain was found dead in his hotel room ahead of their scheduled fixture with Udinese a week ago. Before kick-off, the Florence club showed videos of the 31-year-old Italy international in action, while his former team-mates lined up to display a homemade banner which read ‘Ciao Davide’. Both teams had those words sewn into their jerseys. The match was stopped in the 13th minute – his squad number – so that players, fans and team officials could take part in a minute’s applause, while fans held up placards to spell out ‘Davide 13’ in giant letters across the stadium. Astori’s replacement in the team, Vitor Hugo, scored the only goal of the match – his first for Fiorentina.

As the final whistle sounded, several players dropped to the ground in tears, unable to contain their emotions.