Eight footballers and their shocking deaths on and off the pitch
Not for nothing is football commonly known as the beautiful game. It instills life into its spectators and makes them forget the humdrum of existence. Football controls the pulse of the masses that are addicted to it. Football is ninety minutes of pure bliss.But even in such a game which is so close to life and its celebration, there have been moments which have maimed the onlookers for life - when one of the players' lives have ended.Such moments are thankfully rare, when a player has either died on the field, or departed this realm shortly after being stretchered off, or even has had to give away his life, all bloody inside a car, falling prey to external conspiracies.Here we will have a look at some such instances that have shaken the world of soccer in the past.
#1 Andres Escobar
This happens to be the most well known and also one of the most shocking incidents in the world of football. The assassination of Andres Escobar.
Andres Escobar Saldarriaga (13 March 1967 – 2 July 1994) was a Colombian defender. He played for Atletico Nacional, BSC Young Boys and also for the Colombian national team.
Colombia was playing against the United States on June 22. It was their second game of the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Escobar had stretched out to intercept a pass by the American midfielder John Harkes and deflected the ball into his own net, a mistake which eventually resulted in Columbia’s 2-1 defeat to the United States.
Escobar returned to Colombia after their elimination from the tournament. On the evening of July 1, 1994, Escobar and a few of his friends went to a bar in the El Poblado neighbourhood in Madelin. After which they made their way to the El Indio nightclub. His friends left early and at around 3 a.m in the morning, Escobar was in his car at the parking lot.
It is there that three men appeared and an argument broke out between Escobar and the men. Two of them took out handguns and shot Escobar six times and left him bleeding in the car. The killer had apparently shouted, “Gol!”, imitating the South American commentators. Escobar died 45 minutes later after he was rushed to the hospital.
Humberto Castro Muñoz, a bodyguard for members for a Columbian drug cartel, confessed to the killing of Escobar after he was arrested on July 2, 1994.
Here is a clip of Escobar’s own goal that doomed his life.