RIO DE JANEIRO: South American football was in mourning on Tuesday following the death of Uruguayan defender Juan Izquierdo, who collapsed on the pitch after suffering an irregular heartbeat during a Copa Libertadores game in Brazil last week.

The 27-year-old had been undergoing medical treatment since collapsing during Nacional’s game against Brazilian side Sao Paulo on Aug 22 for a place in the quarter-finals of the Libertadores — the most prestigious club tournament in Latin America..

Izquierdo fell to the ground unconscious in the 84th minute without coming into contact with another player. He was taken off the pitch in an ambulance before being treated at the intensive care unit of Albert Einstein Hospital, where physicians said he suffered “cardiac arrest of undetermined onset, secondary to an arrhythmia.”

Izquierdo, who was sedated and on a ventilator, later suffered “a progression of brain involvement and an increase in intracranial pressure,” the hospital said.

“It is with the deepest sorrow and shock in our hearts that the Club Nacional announces the death of our beloved player Juan Izquierdo,” Uruguay’s Nacional on the social network X, in a message accompanied by a black and white photograph of the athlete.

“We express our most sincere condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and loved ones. All of Nacional is in mourning for his irreparable loss.”

Izquierdo’s wife Selena gave birth to his second child a week ago.

On Monday it emerged that the player had been diagnosed with “a small arrhythmia” a decade ago during routine check-ups of youth teams, according to the director of the National Sports Secretariat, Sebastian Bauza.

Club president Alejandro Balbi said Izquierdo “had never shown any cardiac episode” during examinations at the club, which he joined in January this year.

The Uruguayan Football Associ­ation said the news was deeply painful, while the national governing bodies of Argentina, Peru, Paraguay and Colombia extended their condolences to Izquierdo’s family and friends.

“South American football is in mourning,” said Alejandro Dominguez, the president of South American soccer’s governing body CONMEBOL.

Brazilian Football Federation President Ednaldo Rodrigues said a minute’s silence would be observed in every match organised by the federation on Wednesday.

Sao Paulo said they were deeply saddened by the news, calling it a “sad day for football”.

Izquierdo was born in Montevideo in 1991 and began his career in 2017, playing in several first-division Uruguayan clubs. He also played for Atletico San Luis in Mexico.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2024