Goalkeeper Owono: 'I always think of Jesus'. Zoff: 'A tragic fatality'

"I feel immense pain over the loss of Jesús. I struggle to find the words and it is very difficult for me to process everything that has happened. These are the most difficult days of my life. I will face whatever happens with the utmost respect, but right now I can't think of anything other than him and the pain we are experiencing."

Andorra FC goalkeeper Jesus Owono released the first statements this afternoon - via a club note - after the death of Tenerife striker Jesús de Miguel, caused by a clash between the two on the pitch in a Spanish Serie B match. A tragedy that shakes the world of football and which inevitably also involves the world of justice, with an investigation opened automatically by the Tenerife court, which today received a preliminary autopsy report, confidential for now. Even before the investigation, however, the trials - very summary - were opened on the web, which resulted in insults and threats, even of a racist nature, towards the goalkeeper Owono, labeled a 'murderer'.

For this reason, various people in the world - including Josè Mourinho - have dedicated a thought to him too. "There is no fault or responsibility of one or the other - the legend of the Italian goalkeepers, Dino Zoff, said on the phone to ANSA - it is the case of life and the game, which rarely translates into a misfortune". The 1982 world champion also remembers the death of Ascoli goalkeeper Roberto Strulli, who lost his life in a game clash in 1965: "There is no intention, football is a contact sport: events like this can happen, although one certainly happens every time a pope dies - the former goalkeeper further analyzes -. On this occasion it happened abruptly, but there was only the desire to get the ball". Of the same opinion, in the columns of El Pais, is one of Zoff's successors at the 1986 World Cup, Jorge Valdano, who invites us to "not look for the guilty", because "for so much pain, one victim is enough".

The entire Tenerife team will be present in Navahermosa, in the province of Toledo, for the funeral of Jesús de Miguel, and while La Liga is thinking of suspending the championships for a round (in addition to the already postponed matches of the two teams involved), in Spain the focus is on the investigations. And if Owono's position seems to be criminally protected by the fact that it was a game situation, with the ball being contested, the investigators are examining the timing and maneuvers of medical aid - fundamental in cases of concussion, which according to experts is the most probable hypothesis as the cause of death.

It is not clear, in fact, whether or not the player received oxygen, and if so with what procedure, just as it is not clear why the ambulance did not enter the pitch to evacuate him: de Miguel remained on the pitch for just over six minutes before being placed on a spinal board, and then being rushed by coaches and players to the ambulance. Added to this are some "discrepancies found in the reports or alleged inaccuracies in relation to other evidence attached to the file", reported by police sources to the Spanish media.