A 19-year-old emerging soccer star died on Monday after suffering a brain aneurysm while training in his home in Italy, his team A.C. Legnano said in a statement.
Andrea Rinaldi died three days after suffering a brain aneurysm on May 8 at his home Como amid the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus lockdown, Italian news media reported. His parents took him to the hospital where he remained in critical condition before passing away on Monday, BeSoccer reported.
“Andrea fought for three days after the illness that hit him. Unfortunately, there was nothing to do,” A.C. Legnano said.
“AC Legnano, the city and the entire football universe, at all levels, today live one of their most upsetting days. Andrea Rinaldi, our warrior, has left us,” the top tier Italian soccer club wrote. “An aneurysm snatched him in the prime of life, with a life ahead of him and with a career that promised bright goals. A sudden and shocking tragedy, impossible even to imagine.”
Rinaldi was on the Atalanta B.C., an Italian soccer club based in Bergamo, Lombardy, as a child. He played on their youth team since he was 13, winning the U-17 league title and Super Cup in 2016.
“Andrea has dressed in the Nerazzurri shirt since he was 13 years old until Spring, contributing with the U17 in 2016 to the conquest of the Scudetto and the Super Cup, to then continue his career in the Imolese, Mezzolara and this season in the Legnano,” the club wrote in a statement.
Rinaldi was currently under a season-long loan from his youth club B.C. Atalanta to the club A.C. Legnano, where he played in Series D. The club described the emerging soccer star as “a golden boy, exemplary in life and play.”
“When Andrea came to training, he came first to greet me. This is a memory I will carry in my heart. An extraordinary boy, an example for everyone,” A.C. Legnano chairman Giovanni Munafo said.
“On behalf of the club, I express my deepest condolences to the family. We are sure that Andrea, from up there, will be the usual warrior like always, who fought in the middle of the pitch to bring the Legnano fans joy,” Munafo added.
His youth team, Atalanta B.C., also offered their “most sincere condolences” on Twitter after learning of Rinaldi’s death.
“President Antonio Percassi and the whole Atalanta family offer Andrea #Rinaldi’s relatives and A.C. #Legnano their deepest and most sincere condolences,” the club wrote.
“Just as on the pitch you were always the last to surrender, this time too you fought with all your might not to fly away too soon. But that kind smile of yours will always remain alive in the heart of those who have had the good fortune to meet you,” the youth club’s team wrote.
