Junior's death and lessons learnt in these two decades

Like with Edoardo Bove, the Fiorentina footballer who collapsed on the pitch on Sunday, it took a moment for Mohun Bagan and Dempo Sports Club players to realise that something was very amiss with Cristiano Junior.

- Dhiman Sarkar

With Bove, who looked like he was about to open his boot before keeling over, it was Inter Milan's Denzel Dumfries who raised an alarm. With Junior, it could have been Dempo teammates Ranti Martins and RC Prakash, said Alberto Colaco.

It will be 20 years on Thursday, December 5, so Colaco cannot be faulted for not being sure. As All India Football Federation (AIFF) general secretary, he was not near the pitch but in the stands among 20,000-odd fans at the Kanteerava Stadium in Bengaluru (then Bangalore) for the final of the Federation Cup, a premier tournament. Alongside the report, Hindustan Times's edition of December 6, 2004, has a photograph of a visibly panicked Martins and Prakash holding Junior's hands after the Brazilian striker had slumped on the turf.

Seconds earlier, Junior had scored his and Dempo's second goal to put them on course for their first Federation Cup title. "Thinking he had gone towards the television cameras to celebrate like he had for the first goal, referee SM Balu's initial reaction was to move towards the centre circle to resume play," said Colaco over the phone from Goa.

Having forged a reputation by helping East Bengal retain the National Football League, India's top competition from 1996 to 2007, Junior had starred for Dempo in the Federation Cup with five goals in four matches. Dempo won the final 2-0 but even before the time the prize distribution was over, Colaco got a phone call he wished he never did. Junior had died after a cardiac arrest. He was 25.