Antonio Puerta Tribute

On 25 August 2007, Puerta collapsed and lost consciousness due to a heart attack during Sevilla's first match of the 2007-08 La Liga season at their home stadium Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán against Getafe.[5] He was seen crouching and then subsequently collapsing upon moving back to his team's goal, after only 35 minutes of the game had passed.[2] His team-mates Ivica Dragutinović, Andrés Palop and a club medical staff were then seen immediately running to his side as he began to lose consciousness.

After recovering and being substituted, Puerta collapsed once again in the changing room. He was taken to hospital in an ambulance, where he received cardiopulmonary resuscitation.[6] Doctors reported that his condition had deteriorated since arriving at hospital, and he eventually passed away at the Virgen del Rocio hospital in Seville on 28 August.[7][8] Doctor Francisco Murillo reported that Puerta had suffered multiple organ failure and irreversible brain damage as a result of multiple prolonged cardiac arrests due to an incurable, hereditary heart disease known as arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.[9] There is no official word on whether he had ever been equipped with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator. Puerta's premature death from heart problems is similar to those of Marc-Vivien Foe, Matt Gadsby, Miklos Feher and Serginho, all of whom collapsed whilst playing in football matches.

His girlfriend is currently expecting their first child.[2] As a result of Antonio Puerta's death, Sevilla's UEFA Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens was postponed until the fourth of September, when Sevilla won 4-1 . The club have also announced that a one-minute silence will be respected before every La Liga match on the weekend of September 1/2. Sevilla's European Super Cup game with AC Milan on 31 August went ahead as a tribute to Antonio Puerta.