Antonio Di Natale Class Act

Not often do sports stars hit the headlines for acts like this. Over the weekend Italian football was suspended when a young midfielder on loan at Livorno from Udinese tragically died on the pitch. Piermario Morosini was only 25 years old and leaves behind his severely disabled sister who has already lost both parents and brother in the past 10 years. While club after club passed on their condolences to the team and relatives of Morosini, it was leading striker and captain of Udinese who stepped up so admirably. He announces yesterday that he was to take guardianship of his friend's sister, assuring her of all the financial aid and care that her brother had worked to give her.

“He was an exceptional lad, so full of life. Despite all the problems he had, he was always at the disposal of the team and every day gave us all strength,” said Di Natale.

“I lost my mother four years ago and, as he had already been through this, he was very close to me. Watching the images on television was shocking. He wanted to get back up, but fell again. When seeing that, all you can do is pray the Lord will give you a hand.

“He wanted so much to live and find success, for himself, for the family he no longer had and his sister. I immediately said we could not play last night, as it wasn’t right. I compliment Inter and the FIGC for making that decision, as on a day like this football becomes impossible.”

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