A final for Luismi
A fatal traffic accident five months ago took the life of Luismi Lopez, a CD Fuentes player who participated in the first round of the Copa del Rey. His parents have decided to pay tribute to him by inviting all his friends to watch the final in Seville.
"We feel that from above he is watching us just as excited as we are". These are the heartfelt words of Miguel López and Marisol Andrés, parents of Luismi, one of the players who have helped make the Copa del Rey great this season.
Luismi López played as right back for CD Fuentes in the first round of the competition. It was last November 11 in the San Miguel stadium of this populous Aragonese town, from where a few weeks later this young 23-year-old footballer was traveling home, on his way back from training, when a drunk driver crashed into his car, taking the life of the athlete.
CA Osasuna, CD Fuentes' opponent in the first knockout round, paid tribute to Luismi's family, friends and girlfriend during the quarter-final match against Sevilla FC at El Sadar stadium, but Luismi's parents wanted to carry their son's name to the final itself.
Using the compensation money offered by the RFEF through the Mutualidad de futbolistas, Miguel López and Marisol Andrés, have captained a team of 29 people, all of them wearing a tribute t-shirt to Luismi, to live the match in Seville.
The group of 29 people, all wearing the same Luismi tribute T-shirt, received the affection and encouragement of the fans during their trip to Seville to attend the Copa final.
"We consider that the economic amount received was not ours, but belonged to Luismi -explains the player's father- and we decided to organize this trip thanks to the fact that later the Aragonese Football Federation made it easier for us to acquire the tickets for our group".
In this way, Luismi's parents, his girlfriend Paula, his sister Mar, teammates and friends have shared a weekend in memory of the footballer, traveling from Zaragoza and then staying overnight in the town of La Carlota in Cordoba and traveling from there to the capital of Seville while receiving on arrival the tokens of affection from the fans.
"It's for you", reads the slogan on his shirt in a tribute to which CA Osasuna has joined by hanging the CD Fuentes shirt with Luismi's number 4 in the stadium's locker room during the final.
A beautiful initiative "therapeutic for different reasons, which helps us a lot, in the words of Luismi's parents, and shows that soccer is much more than two teams playing a final. It is about values, training afternoons, shared moments and meeting people who accompany you in memory of loved ones. Thanks to all these people, we can cope better with the loss and get emotional together. The days of crying alone will come later," they said, visibly moved.
