Fiorentina are a club stalked by tragedy, as the death of Joe Barone eerily echoes that of captain Davide Astori almost exactly six years ago.
The Calcio world is in mourning for general manager Barone, who has died just one day before his 58th birthday.
He collapsed in the hotel in Bergamo on Sunday just as the team was getting ready to travel to the Gewiss Stadium for their Serie A match against Atalanta.
It happened just days after the sixth anniversary of the sudden death of captain Astori on March 4, 2018, which also occurred in a hotel just before a Serie A game.
Barone had not yet been appointed then, as the club was still owned by the Della Valle brothers, but many members of staff or the squad will feel history repeating itself and tragedy stalking this side.
Astori died in his sleep at the age of 31 and there are still so many questions that need to be answered about what happened and whether it could’ve been prevented.
Now players like Cristiano Biraghi, Luca Ranieri, Nikola Milenkovic and Riccardo Sottil who experienced both tragedies will have to come together and help Fiorentina find a way through yet another tragedy.
It won’t be easy, especially as they still have to play 10 Serie A games, the Coppa Italia semi-finals and the Europa Conference League quarter-finals.
The training ground was named after Astori, it would be fitting for the Viola Park to be dedicated to Barone, who worked so hard to get the project realised.