Fiorentina honour Astori
ROME: Serie A club Fiorentina announced that their training ground will be renamed in tribute to former captain Davide Astori, who died aged 31 earlier this month.
The Italian international died suddenly in his hotel room before a match at Udinese on March 4.
Fiorentina’s training ground will be renamed the ‘Centro Sportivo Davide Astori’.
“We’ve made this decision because that was his home,” said Fiorentina president Mario Cognini. “He went there every day for training and used to spend time there with his family too. We believe that honouring him in this way is the right thing to do.”
Astori’s No.13 shirt was retired by the club, where he had played for three years.
The centre-back came through the youth system at AC Milan before spending eight years at Cagliari, while he also had a loan spell at Roma.
Meanwhile, Italy’s interim coach Luigi Di Biagio says the door is still open for maverick striker Mario Balotelli who was once again overlooked for this month’s friendlies, despite scoring regularly for Ligue 1 side Nice.
The 27-year-old has scored 22 goals in 31 appearances in all competitions for the French side this season.
“Numbers and goals are important for forwards but they have to be linked to a certain type of performance,” Di Biagio told reporters at the team’s training camp outside Florence.
“I have looked, judged and decided... I will continue to follow him and we will see what he does in the next few months.”
Balotelli has not been picked by Italy since the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Di Biagio has also included Gianluigi Buffon in the squad after persuading the 40-year-old goalkeeper to reconsider his decision to retire from international football.
Italy face Argentina in Manchester on Friday and England at Wembley four days later, their first matches since they failed to qualify for this year’s World Cup in Russia.