SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Spain — FC Andorra goalkeeper Jesus Owono said in a statement released by his club on Wednesday that he is living through the hardest days of his life, two days after his collision with Tenerife forward Jesus de Miguel ended in the 30-year-old striker’s death.
Owono, 25, said he was struggling to accept what happened, that his thoughts were with De Miguel and everyone who loved him, and that he would deal with whatever questions come with complete respect. The goalkeeper did not attend a voluntary Andorra training session Wednesday that opened with a minute of silence.
The collision came Monday in the seventh minute of stoppage time of a Spanish second-division match with the score tied 2-2. Owono raced far off his line toward the center circle to deal with a long ball and his raised knee struck De Miguel in the chest. Owono was shown a red card, and the referee abandoned the match.
Knocked unconscious, the striker went into cardiorespiratory arrest and never woke up. Medics restored his pulse in the ambulance and he was taken to Nuestra Senora de Candelaria university hospital, where Tenerife said he died at 8 a.m. Tuesday.
Investigators from the national police’s homicide unit have started a routine inquiry into whether the death amounts to involuntary manslaughter, a step Spanish law triggers automatically whenever a death is not natural. The chief prosecutor in Santa Cruz de Tenerife said a court case would be very unlikely because the impact happened during play.
Tenerife announced six days of official mourning with all club activities suspended. Games in European club competition this week are holding a minute of silence, and fans have left flowers and candles at the club’s Estadio Heliodoro Rodriguez Lopez. Owono has 47 caps for Equatorial Guinea, whose football federation has publicly backed him.
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