Fiorentina's Astori found dead, Serie A postponed
All Serie A matches on Monday (AEDT) have been postponed after the death of Fiorentina captain Davide Astori.
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The club confirmed Davide Astori was found dead in his hotel room on Sunday, but the cause of death remains unclear.
Tributes flowed in for the 31-year-old defender after the club's shock announcement that he had passed away.
Astori and the Fiorentina squad had been staying in a hotel in Udine ahead of a scheduled Serie A match with Udinese.
Club press officer Arturo Mastronardi says Astori's body was found in his room after he did not arrive for breakfast with the team on Sunday night )AEDT).
He added that an autopsy is due to be conducted and the rest of the squad will fly back to Florence, where club directors have visited Astori's family.
"There was a deadline to show up for breakfast, at 0930," Mastronardi said.
"He usually arrived first. When he didn't turn up before the deadline, they went to check on him and, unfortunately, they found him in his room.
"The cause [of death] is not yet known. A magistrate came and they have taken him to the hospital for an autopsy. I think it will be done by the end of the day, but I don't know the technical details.
"The last to see Davide was Marco Sportiello. The medical staff and Sportiello will be talked to. As far as I know, Astori was not under any special medical controls.
"The team will return to Florence by a charter flight at around 1500. The family has been informed by the directors: the parents by telephone, while in Florence his partner has been visited by directors who were in the city.
"We have no other news at the moment."
All seven games in Italy's top flight that were due to take place on Monday (AEDT), including the Milan derby between AC Milan and Inter Milan, have been postponed out of respect.
