Jesús de Miguel’s family spoke publicly for the first time on Thursday morning, through a short statement read outside the funeral home in Navahermosa, Toledo.
The statement was delivered by the player’s representative, Manuel Hernández, according to Spanish broadcaster COPE, rather than by a family member in person.
“Jesús leaves an impossible void to fill, but also an immense memory in all those who have had the opportunity to share our lives with him,” the family said.
The family added that they had “no words” to thank the people who had written, called and sent messages since Tuesday, and asked that they be allowed “to live through this grief in the calm that this situation requires.”
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A funeral in his home village
The funeral mass is scheduled for 3pm local time on Thursday at the parish church of San Miguel Arcángel in Navahermosa, the central Spanish village where De Miguel’s family is from, according to Diario de Pontevedra. Burial is set to follow the same afternoon.
Navahermosa town hall has declared three days of official mourning, with flags on municipal buildings at half-mast. CD Tenerife’s first-team squad and management are expected to attend, together with a delegation from CD Castellón, where the forward previously played.
How the tragedy unfolded
De Miguel collapsed deep into added time of Monday’s Segunda División match between Tenerife and FC Andorra at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez López, after a collision with Andorra goalkeeper Jesús Owono. He suffered cardiac arrest in the ambulance and was taken to Hospital Universitario de Nuestra Señora de Candelaria in Santa Cruz, where he was admitted to intensive care. The match, tied at 2-2, was abandoned seven minutes into added time.
He died on Tuesday. He was 30 and leaves a wife and a young daughter, according to ABC News.
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A global response
Tributes have poured in from across the sport. Champions League teams in action on Wednesday observed a minute’s silence before kick-off, and players at Spanish clubs, among them Lamine Yamal, Kylian Mbappé and Vinícius Júnior, paid tribute on social media, according to Al Jazeera. Fans laid flowers, lit candles and pinned photographs of De Miguel outside gate 9 of the Estadio Heliodoro.
Owono, the Andorra goalkeeper involved in the collision, has spoken publicly about his own grief in a post on social media.
“I want everyone to know that I never intended to hurt anyone. It was a terrible accident, something I wish with all my heart I could take back,” he wrote. “No words can express the pain, guilt and heartbreak I feel right now.”
The service in Navahermosa begins at 3pm local time.
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