Ermen Benitez (second right), father of Ecuador player Christian “Chucho” Benitez, cries as he looks at his son’s coffin during the funeral in Quito, yesterday. Ecuador and Eljaish striker Christian Benitez died in Qatar on July 29 of heart failure at the age of 27.
QUITO, Pichincha: Thousands of fans filed past the coffin of Ecuadoran football hero Christian Benitez for a statesman-like farewell in Quito yesterday after an autopsy confirmed he had died of heart failure in Qatar.
The 27-year-old striker, who was eyeing next year’s World Cup, died suddenly after his first game with Qatari club Eljaish last Sunday, shocking fans as far away as Mexico, where he played for Club America last season.
His family wept as thousands of people stood in line to enter a sports arena where the man affectionately known as “Chucho” was lying in a glass-top coffin, partly covered by the Ecuadoran national flag.
Before the funeral, his body underwent a second autopsy at the request of his wife and family, amid suspicion that he was not given adequate attention at a Qatari hospital after he complained of abdominal pains.
Luis Chiriboga, president of the Ecuadoran Football Federation, said the examination concluded that Benitez was “destined to die” due to a coronary problem that “could only be detected after his death.”
Eljaish had declared on Wednesday that an autopsy found that the sudden death was caused by heart failure.
His aunt, Brenda Benitez, said that the new autopsy was requested “in order for the country to have clarity, for the speculation to stop.
“It has been very painful for us who knew the modesty and simplicity of Christian,” she said.
The football star’s body, accompanied by his wife Liseth Chala, landed outside Quito before dawn yesterday, with fire trucks welcoming him by spraying water over his airplane.
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino was at the airport along with Ecuadoran national team players, Antonio Valencia, while fans waved flags of his Ecuadoran club El Nacional. Benitez was considered a key part of Colombian coach Reinaldo Rueda’s Ecuador team that is hoping to qualify for the World Cup in Brazil, sitting third in the South American qualifying group, within range to book a ticket to the tournament. In Mexico City, Club America will lead a standing ovation on the 11th minute of a game at the 105,000-capacity Azteca stadium today in honour of the team’s former number 11. AFP
