<p>Thousands of soccer fans gathered in Florence, Italy, on March 8 to pay their respects to the 31-year-old defender Davide Astori, who died of cardiac arrest</a> on March 4, the night before his team, Fiorentina, were due to play Udinese in Serie A.</p><p>Fans congregated outside the Basilica di Santa Croce during Astori’s funeral. They waved flags and let off off purple smoke, the color of Fiorentina, in memory of the player.</p><p>Astori was the captain of Fiorentina and his sudden death led to the cancellation of all Serie A and Serie B games in the country scheduled for the following week. Credit: Pierluigi Vanzi via Storyful</p><br />
