Spain in mourning for Jarque

RCD Espanyol are mourning the death of their 26-year-old captain Daniel Jarque, who died of heart failure on Saturday while on a pre-season tour of Italy.

Team leader
A day before his side were due to take on Bologna FC in a friendly, Jarque took ill at the team base in Coverciano and, despite the best efforts of medical staff to revive him, passed away shortly afterwards. Jarque had recently been awarded the captaincy of Espanyol − the club with whom he spent his entire career − by coach Mauricio Pochettino and was looking forward to leading his side out at their new Cornellá El-Prat Stadium in the forthcoming season.

Successful career
The central defender made his Espanyol debut against RC Recreativo de Huelva on 20 October 2002 and went on to make 173 league appearances for the Barcelona-based outfit. He was a Copa del Rey winner in 2006 and the following season missed out on a UEFA Cup winners' medal after defeat in the final by Sevilla FC. Jarque was also part of the Spain team that triumphed at the 2002 UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Norway.