Fiorentina fans pay tribute to Davide Astori in Benevento win
Sunday 11 March 2018 15:21, UK
Fiorentina fans paid tribute to Davide Astori on Sunday as the Viola played their first game since their club captain's untimely death at the age of 31.
Astori died suddenly last week after suffering a suspected cardiac arrest at the team's hotel ahead of their Serie A match against Udinese, which was subsequently postponed.
Thousands of supporters turned out to pay their respects at the defender's funeral in Florence on Thursday, and fans continued their tributes on Sunday as Fiorentina returned to domestic action against Benevento at Stadio Artemio Franchi.
The club displayed a banner across the centre circle ahead of the game, which simply read 'Captain Forever', while the Fiorentina players also wore T-shirts featuring Astori's name and his now retired number, 13, during their pre-match warm-up.
The referee then signalled a minute's silence for the centre-back, who won 14 caps for Italy over the course of six years.
The match kicked off but was halted in the 13th minute as the entire stadium erupted in applause for Astori, as a colourful tifo of 'Davide 13' was created by the fans in the stands.
Once the game had resumed, Vitor Hugo put the home side ahead with a well-directed header and promptly unveiled a shirt with Astori's picture on it after retrieving it from the home dugout.
Fiorentina held on to their one-goal lead to win the match and move up to ninth in the table.
