More than eight years after the tragic death of Davide Astori, Bryan Dabo returned to one of the most painful moments of his career. On March 4, 2018, the Fiorentina captain was found dead in his hotel room in Udine, at just 31 years old, while his team was due to play a Serie A match. Present within the Florentine squad at that time, the former French midfielder recounted the circumstances in which he and his teammates learned the terrible news. “ We go to breakfast, he’s always first usually, and now he’s not there. Someone asks: “Where is Davide?” We don’t know, so we go back. I see Stefano Pioli, he opens the door and he is in tears “, he remembered. It was then that Cyril ThĂ©rĂ©au told him the unthinkable: “ Bryan, the captain is dead. » A huge shock for the whole group. “ There, it’s a massacre, you see one guy crying, then another. We go into the room, we look and we see the body. Even then, when I talk about it… », he continued, visibly still marked by this scene.
The disappearance of Davide Astori had profoundly shaken Italian football and particularly Fiorentina, of which he had become the captain and one of the emblematic faces. Trained at AC Milan, passed through Cagliari and AS Roma before joining Florence in 2015, the Italian international defender, capped 14 times with the Squadra Azzurra, left behind a partner and a little daughter. His sudden death caused an immense wave of emotion in Italy, notably pushing the city of Florence to decree a day of municipal mourning during his funeral. Hundreds of supporters also gathered in front of the Artemio-Franchi stadium to pay tribute to him. For Bryan Dabo, the trauma remains intact despite the years. “ I talked about it with several players, it had an impact on them all “, he confided to Addict O Foot.
