- Two Italian club sides, Fiorentina and Cagliari have retired Astori's jersey number 13 after he was confirmed dead on Sunday morning
- The 31-year-old was found dead in his hotel room ahead of their game against Benevento
- Meanwhile, Italian authorities are set to run an autopsy to find out the case of his death
Italian Serie A club sides, Fiorentina and Cagliari have confirmed that the late Davide Astori’s jersey number 13 has been retired by both clubs, according to Goal.
The 31-year-old defender passed away in his sleep on Sunday morning – leaving the Italian football fraternity, and by extension the global football family in shock.
Though, tributes have been flooding in from across the football world, but the last two clubs the late defender represented revealed that in respect of the dead, they will no longer be giving Astori’s squad number to any other player.
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A statement from the Florence-based club read: “To honour his memory and make the memory of Davide Astori indelible, Cagliari and Fiorentina have decided to jointly withdraw the shirt with the number 13.”
Although, a murder case has been opened by the Italian authorities in a bid to discover what led to the sudden death of the Italian national team defender, with Udine chief prosecutor Antonio De Nicolo having made that announcement to Radio Rai on Monday.
He said: “We have opened criminal proceedings over the hypothesis of murder.
“For now, it’s been brought against unknown persons. We’ve arranged an autopsy, which will be performed soon.”
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Under Italian law, before a post-mortem could be carried out on a dead body to discover the cause of death, a case must first be opened in the court of law.
As such, there is currently no suggestion of foul play involved in the passing of the former AC Milan youth player, who subsequently starred at the likes of Cagliari and Roma before moving to Fiorentina.
De Nicolo later clarified to ANSA: "We have a duty to ascertain whether Astori’s death was a tragic fatality of if someone knew something.
"For now, no-one is responsible, neither is there anyone who seems as if they could answer anything.
"The start of this judicial procedure allows us to identify any responsibility on the part of anyone."
A minute silence will also be observed in all the Champions League and Europa League fixtures due to be staged at the round of 16 in respect of the late defender.
Davide Astori scored 8 goals in 345 appearances in his 12-year career span in about five Serie A outfits.
He made his senior national team debut in 2011, and scored one goal in 16 matches for the Azzurri in the space of six years.
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Source: Sports.naija.ng