Verdú: “I lived near Coverciano, but I avoided stepping on it again”

If anyone can give voice to the post-match of the Fiorentina-Espanyol of this Saturday, dedicated to the memory of Dani jarque Y Davide asori, on the day they are fulfilled 12 years since the fateful death of the eternal captain perico, that's without a doubt Joan Verdú. The former Blue and White player, who has just signed for L'Hospitalet, was present in Coverciano that tragic afternoon of August 8, 2009, returned to Florence in 2015 to dress as 'viola', he chose the number 21 in memory of his former partner and shared a dressing room with Astori, died three years later.

“I still have a hard time talking about it, it was one of my worst days not only in the world of football but in life“Verdú starts, saddened by everything he experienced that damn Saturday.” I had recently signed, but we had coincided in lower categories, in the Espanyol-Barça derbies, we shared a representative and we knew each other perfectly“And to top it off, he was lounging next to Shunsuke Nakamura in the next room.

The trauma of that damn Saturday accompanied him until 2015, when he signed for Fiorentina. “Coverciano is two minutes from the hotel where we concentrated with Fiorentina, the stadium and my house were also about five minutes away“, says the playmaker. And abounds:” But since that happened I have not stepped on it again. I avoided it. It is a large complex, it is where the Italian team is concentrated, but despite being next to I tried never to go through Coverciano, because I did not like to remember what happened, “he confesses.

If there was any way to honor the memory of the eternal captain in the same city where he had left us, Verdú chose the most suitable one. “At Fiorentina they gave us to choose a series of free numbers, and 21 is the one we clearly liked, because of the story that had happened there. “” Mágico (Díaz, his agent) had also told me that it would be nice for him to take it. We thought it was a good way to honor him, a small detail that at least helped me at that time to remember him“, he asserts.

Who was going to tell the L'Eixample footballer that misfortune would reappear with a locker room partner. In this case, in 2018, when Verdú had already been away from Fiorentina for a while. “Astori was a very good boy. He got along very well with the Spanish, with Borja Valero and Mario (Suárez) a very handsome group was formed, and he was of those people who helped you right away“, reels.

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“He had made his debut with the Italian national team, he was a great left-handed central defender and had an amazing future ahead. It's a shame, “he says,” because, in addition to people, football missed two great players who would have contributed many things at the club and national level“, he reflects.” Inside the misfortune, both Dani and Astori are still on everyone's mind, and we keep all the good things they gave us, “he praises.

It is for all this that Verdú indisputably supports research on cardiomyopathies. “Yes it is true that lately, in medical check-ups, the heart is monitored more. But it is no longer something that affects only athletes, but concerns the whole of society. Hopefully the investigation goes ahead and sooner rather than later a solution to sudden death is found so that these misfortunes are not repeated, “he concludes.

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The wreath at Gate 21 of the RCDE Stadium

Like every year, this Sunday Gate 21 of RCDE Stadium will open so that whoever wishes can make a floral offering, or simply a visit of tribute, to the statue of Dani Jarque. The opening hours will include between 11:00 and 14:00, and as a consequence of the pandemic, access to groups of ten people and the use of the face mask.

Before opening it to the public, and totally private and intimate way, relatives the eternal captain will make their own offering accompanied by representatives institutional institutions of Espanyol, captains of the first team, ambassadors of the club and positions of the Foundation and of the Catalan Federation of Penyes.