In their first outing since the tragic death of their club captain, Fiorentina used Sunday’s Serie A game against Benevento to pay mass tribute to the late Davide Astori.
The entire day was dedicated to Astori’s memory, with all the mascots wearing the defender’s now-retired No.13 shirt – half in Fiorentina jerseys, half in Cagliari colours…
The match was then halted 13 minutes in as the entire Stadio Artemio Franchi rose to applaud their fallen comrade as his name and number were proudly cheered by everybody inside the ground.
Fittingly, Fiorentina went on to register a 1-0 victory, the only goal coming from Vitor Hugo, the 20-year-old Brazilian centre-back who came into the team to replace Astori.
As a bizarre quirk, Hugo was wearing the No.31 shirt when he scored exactly 13 minutes after the Astori tribute – at 13:00pm on the dot – on his 13th appearance for La Viola.
Just a coincidence, we’re sure.