Friend reveals girlfriend's lonely hospital vigil as footballer Jesus de Miguel dies at 30

Jesus de Miguel, the 30-year-old Tenerife striker, died on Tuesday after suffering a cardiac arrest during a Segunda División match against Andorra, leaving behind his girlfriend Maria and their one-year-old daughter, Carla. A close friend has now spoken publicly about the anguish Maria endured in the hours that followed.

De Miguel collapsed after taking a heavy blow to the chest from a challenge by Andorra goalkeeper Jesus Owono during Monday’s fixture. He was taken to intensive care and died the following day.

Fernando Roman, a friend of De Miguel’s who plays for Spanish side Talavera, gave an interview with Spanish outlet Vamos a Ver and described how Maria had been at the stadium with Carla when the incident occurred. She was left alone at the hospital until De Miguel’s parents, who had been watching the match at a bar in their home village of Navahermosa in Toledo, made the journey to Tenerife.

“Yesterday, my girlfriend and I were talking all afternoon and all night with Maria, his girlfriend, who was alone in the hospital,” Roman said. “I’ve spoken with his girlfriend, and you can imagine how she is. Now we have to be with the family. We have to send our love to his family, to Maria, to his daughter Carla, who is a year and a few months old. It was unbelievable because we were talking about travelling to Disney with the girls, with my daughter too, and look what’s happened.”

A neighbour of De Miguel’s parents told Spanish programme Y ahora Sonsoles that his father had been watching the match at a local bar and “started crying” the moment he saw the collision, immediately gathering his family to travel to Tenerife.

Roman also published an open letter to his friend on social media. “My friend… I can’t believe you’re gone… you have no idea how much I’m going to miss you. I didn’t just consider you a friend; I considered you a member of my own family,” he wrote. “You were always there to help me when I was struggling — you were by my side during my worst moments. Many people didn’t truly know you, but having known you, I can say you were one of the best people I’ve ever had in my life: humble, hardworking, never one to look for trouble.”

Owono, the goalkeeper involved in the collision, is reported to be among those grieving De Miguel’s death.