Uruguayan footballer Juan Izquierdo dies, days after collapsing during match

SAO PAULO:

Uruguayan soccer player Juan Izquierdo died Tuesday at a hospital in Brazil five days after collapsing during a game at Sao Paulo. He was 27.

Hospital Albert Einstein in Sao Paulo said in a statement that the Nacional defender died at 9:38 p.m. local time following “cardiorespiratory arrest associated with his cardiac arrhythmia.”

Izquierdo was taken to the hospital after he collapsed late in a Copa Libertadores soccer match at Sao Paulo’s Morumbi Stadium last Thursday.

The Uruguayan club posted a statement on social media saying Izquierdo’s death is felt “in deep pain and impact in our hearts” and “all Nacional is in grief for his irreplaceable loss.”

South American soccer’s governing body also posted a tribute.

CONMEBOL president Alejandro Domínguez said he’s “deeply sorry about the early departure of Juan Izquierdo.

“South American soccer is in mourning,” he said.

Other federations, including Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina, also expressed their condolences.

In a statement Monday, doctors at the hospital said Izquierdo was put into neurological critical care because of increased intracranial pressure. He had been on a ventilator since Sunday.