National
25,000 Sevilla fans welcome the body of Antonio Puerta on his last trip to the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuan Stadium
By h.b.
Aug 29, 2007 - 9:24 AM

Thousands of Sevilla Football Club fans, friends and colleagues, many of them visibly upset, have been filing past the body of the player Antonio Puerta, who died in hospital yesterday afternoon.

His body is lying in the Sevilla Club, the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuan Stadium, just a few metres from where he was born 22 years ago. The fact that he was a local man, held him in special affection at the club.

It’s now known that the player had a genetic condition which leads to a series of heart attacks which cause irreversible brain damage.

More than 25,000 people were waiting outside the stadium for the arrival of the coffin. There was applause and shouts of ‘Puerta Puerta’ just after midnight last night when access to file past the coffin was opened. The player’s parents, and his 8 month pregnant girlfriend, led the mourners.

The Sevilla squad arrived back from Athens after 2am led by the Club President, José María del Nido.