Como, 18 March 2023 – A tragic twist of fate, a macabre coincidence, a terrible curse. Or else. Why so many former footballers that have wore the Como shirt I am dead early due to rare diseases?
If you ask the widow of Stefano Borgonovo and many other bereaved family members since the turn of the new millennium. The mystery of the lake look for answers. In fact they are about ten cases of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis who have “touched” the old glories of the Como club. And if the most famous name is precisely that of Giussano’s striker (86 appearances and 15 goals with Como), we cannot forget other idols of the fans who died prematurely. From Sla he died in 2001 at just 60 years old Celestine Meroni, brother of the more famous Gigi: both began their careers with the Lombard club. In 2009 the same fate befell the defender Maurizio Gabbana who wore the blue shirt for two seasons in the seventies in Serie B. In November 2014, after an agony of about twenty years in bed at his home in Albiate, he died Piergiorgio Corno, former footballer for Como and Atalanta in the 1960s. And then the unforgotten Adrian Lombardiknown as ‘the red’ because of his hair: he played by the lake with Tardelli and Vierchowod, he was also the captain of Avellino and the disease took him away on 30 November 2007. Di Lombardi had been a teammate at the Italian-Brazilian Albano Canazza, who died in 2000 at the age of 38. He too due to ALS.
Destiny has also raged against other boys of the lake: on all of them Andrea Fortunatoexploded with Como in Serie B and killed by leukemia at just 23 years old. And then the defender Joseph Longoniforced to one wheelchair from a form of vasculopatia cardiacwhich would then lead to his death in 2006 at the age of 63. All linked by a single common thread, or rather by the blades of grass wet with humidity trampled on Orsenigo training camp and on the lawn of the Sinigaglia.
He wanted to see clearly the prosecutor Raffaele Guariniellothe first to ‘dig’ among the dead and those suffering from ALS (and not only): the green mantle of the Como plant ended up in an investigation file due to fears related to substances used to treat weed, from paints to pesticides to various herbicides. Without forgetting the doubts about the possible presence of (harmful) foundry slag own under the playing field of Sinigaglia. After some inspections, Guariniello’s men took them away pesticide leftovers and old paint cans green to evaluate possible neurotoxic effects of substances. In recent months other disturbing doubts: scientific investigations reveal how raw water used on soccer fields can cause the disease, and therefore the proximity of stadiums (such as Sinigaglia) to lakes or watercourses is a risk factor. Hypothesis. Waiting for the truth.