Uruguayan footballer dies after collapsing mid-game in Brazil

Montevideo: Uruguayan footballer Juan Izquierdo of the Nacional club died in Brazil Tuesday, five days after collapsing from a heart attack during a m...

Montevideo: Uruguayan footballer Juan Izquierdo of the Nacional club died in Brazil Tuesday, five days after collapsing from a heart attack during a match against Sao Paolo, his team announced late Tuesday.

The 27-year-old collapsed in the 84th minute of a match for a place in the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores -- the most prestigious club tournament in Latin America.

He was taken by ambulance to the Albert Einstein Hospital, where physicians said he suffered "cardiac arrest of undetermined onset, secondary to an arrhythmia."

Izquierdo, who was sedated and on a ventilator, later suffered "a progression of brain involvement and an increase in intracranial pressure," the hospital said.

"With the deepest pain and shock in our hearts, the Club Nacional de Football announces the death of our beloved player Juan Izquierdo," Nacional wrote on the social network X, in a message accompanied by a black and white photograph of the athlete.