European Football: Sunday Serie A games postponed due to Fiorentina captain Davide Astori's Death, Arsenal beaten by Brighton and PSG win without Neymar

Football action across Europe, this past weekend produced some stunning results but also witnessed a sad event. All football matches in the Italian Serie A for Sunday was postponed due to the death of 31 year old Fiorentina's captain and Italy international Davide Astori on Sunday. 

The Italian club, Fiorentina confirmed the news on Sunday morning in a statement posted on the club's official website, with multiple outlets in Italy reporting the defender died of cardiac arrest in his hotel room before the game against Udinese.

"The belief is that the player died of a cardiac arrest by natural causes," Udine prosecutor Antonio De Nicolo said. "It is strange that such a thing should happen to a professional who is so closely monitored without there being any warning signs."

Astori's body was taken to the Santa Maria della Misericordia Hospital for an autopsy.

"A profoundly shocked Fiorentina are compelled to announce that their captain Davide Astori, who was struck by an unexpected sudden illness, has passed away," the team said in a statement. "In this terrible and delicate situation, and in particular out of respect for his family, we appeal for everybody to show sensitivity."

A statement from the league read: "Shocked by this tragic news, all of the family of the Lega Serie A warmly unites around the family of Davide Astori and Fiorentina. All of today's games are postponed due to mourning. Ciao Davide."

In England, Manchester City extended their premier league lead by defeating an unimpressive Chelsea 1-0 at the Etihad while Arsenal experienced their fourth successive defeat at the hand of premier league newcomers Brighton & Hove Albion.



In the Spainish La Liga, Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo and Barcelona's Lionel Messi both hit significant milestones of their respective careers during the weekend. Ronaldo scored his 300th La Liga goal at home against Getafe in 286 league matches, 48 fewer than his long time rival Lionel Messi did (334 matches) while Messi scored his 600th career goal as Barcelona landed what could be the knock-out blow in this season's La Liga title race with a 1-0 win.



Moving over to the German Bundesliga, Thomas Mueller continued his rejuvenation under Jupp Heynckes helping Bayern Munich to a 4-0 win over Freiburg. Mueller, who experienced a dip in form and dropped from the first team roaster under Carlo Ancelotti has now scored six goals and provided two assists in 10 games this year.




Paris Saint Germain, who was without their star player Neymar Jr., made light work of their game away to Troyes in their ligue 1 fixture, with Di Maria and Christopher Nkunku helping them to a 0-2 win. Neymar Jr. missed the game because  an injury he sustained during their last league game against bitter rivals Marseille. The 26 year old has been discharged from hospital after undergoing successful surgery and will miss much of PSG's games especially Tuesday's crunch tie against Real Madrid.














Source: ESPN

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