From flags to a life-size statue, images and homages to Pope Francis were visible all around the Pedro Bidegain stadium in Buenos Aires on Saturday as his beloved San Lorenzo de Almagro soccer team took to the field for the first time since the pontiff’s death.

Players wore jerseys with images of the late Pope along with the words “Together for Eternity,” as a remembrance for the passion Francis showed the team throughout his life, even remaining a member during his 12-year papacy.

A view shows a shirt of the San Lorenzo de Almagro, Pope Francis’ hometown soccer team, with a badge with an image of him and a message reading “together for eternity”, on the day of an Argentine first division match against Rosario Central, following the death of the pontiff, at the Pedro… 

“The Pope is from Boedo,” fans chanted before the kickoff, unfurling Vatican-coloured

yellow-and-white flags. The club, based in the Boedo neighborhood of Buenos Aires, plans to name its new stadium after Pope Francis.

During the halftime show, Scholas Occurrentes, an international organization created by the Pope in 2013 to transform global education, also paid tribute to the pope, who died on Monday at the age of 88.

Jorge Bergoglio inherited his passion for the popular Argentine club from his father and never lost it.

“And may San Lorenzo win,” Bergoglio said shortly after his election in 2013, as part of a series of wishes for his home country.

While he never returned to Argentina as pope, a life-size statue of Francis wearing a scarf with the team’s colors, blue and red, around his neck and overlooked the match against Rosario Central from the sidelines.

The match remained scoreless until the 91st minute when Enzo Copetti scored the lone goal for Rosario Central, handing the pope’s hometown team a 1-0 defeat.

During his years at the Vatican, Francis was named an honorary San Lorenzo member and received several visits from club delegations, including one after the club won the Copa Libertadores in 2014 and presented the trophy to the Catholic leader.

-Reuters

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Diego Maradona was left to suffer in “agony” for at least 12 hours before his death, a forensic expert has told a Buenos Aires court.

Seven medics stand trial as they have been facing accusations of effectively letting the football legend die.

Autopsy revelations, made public for the first time on Thursday, paint a grim picture of Maradona’s final hours at his Buenos Aires home in 2020. 

Prosecutors allege his medical team – including a neurosurgeon, a psychiatrist, a psychologist, and several doctors and nurses – failed him miserably.

Carlos Cassinelli, director of forensic medicine at the Scientific Police Superintendency, told the court that Maradona’s heart was “completely covered in fat and blood clots,” clear indicators of prolonged agony.

“This was not a patient who should have been left at home,” Cassinelli declared. “His condition had been worsening for days – it was inevitable.”

The autopsy determined Maradona died from acute pulmonary oedema caused by congestive heart failure – a slow, painful decline rather than a sudden collapse.

Witnesses had previously testified that the footballing icon’s face and abdomen were alarmingly swollen in his final days. But, prosecutors said, the medics overseeing his care carried on regardless, showing an outrageous disregard for his deteriorating condition.

Among those on trial is Leopoldo Luque, Maradona’s physician, and psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, who prescribed the drugs he was taking right up until his death.

The defendants are accused of “homicide with possible intent” – knowingly taking a course of action that could lead to their patient’s death. If convicted, they face between eight and 25 years behind bars.

Maradona, famous worldwide for leading Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986, died at 60 in a private residential complex north of Buenos Aires, just weeks after undergoing brain surgery.

Investigators claim his home care was riddled with negligence, branding it a catalogue of “serious mistakes” that sealed his fate.

The long-delayed trial, expected to last until July, will hear from nearly 120 witnesses – a legal battle set to expose shocking failings in the final chapter of Maradona’s extraordinary life.

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Swedish football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson, the first foreigner to lead the England national team, died with debts of over 3.8 million pounds ($4.64 million) following years of financial mismanagement.

Eriksson, who died in August last year at the age of 76 having earlier announced that he was terminally ill with pancreatic cancer, left assets worth 4.8 million pounds but owed 8.64 million.

Most of Eriksson’s debts were tax related in the UK, owing 7.25 million pounds to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), according to Swedish media reports.

Eriksson, who managed England between 2001 and 2006, had previously spoken of losing 10 million pounds to a financial adviser and admitted that he had no idea how much money he had or where it was.

-Reuters