Glowing tributes to keen footballer who died eating breakfast cereal

During football practice, 25-year-old Umberto Latina would teach any new move or trick he learnt to his friends on the Special Olympics team.

And he did so in true footballer style as he made sure he looked good even when out on the field, his coach, Elaine Bonnici, said while struggling to hold back her tears.

The young man, described by many as “the boy who was always smiling”, died on Wednesday after choking on his breakfast cereal in his Cospicua home while his mother was at work.

A huge fan of Italian football club Juventus, Mr Latina was nicknamed Nedved, after retired Czech player Pavel Nedved, whom he resembled.

He manifested his passion for the game by joining the Special Olympics football team playing on the right wing and attack.

“He was very dedicated and, although he had an intellectual disability, he really understood the game and liked helping others learn,” said Ms Bonnici, who coached the team for the last five years.

“He also liked asking a lot of questions because he wanted to learn. He had great potential and even trained with mainstream football clubs where everyone loved him. We lost a great player,” she said.

She said Mr Latina had competed in Cyrus and in Portugal where the team won the silver medal. This summer, he chose not to compete in Greece because he opted to visit his father in Italy.

Ms Bonnici smiled as she recalled how he was “a real footballer” complete with a vanity streak. “He changed his hairstyle often and chose fashionable clothes... He had the looks for that,” she smiled.

Mr Latina was, of course, a member of the Juventus Support Club Malta and went there regularly, club vice president Joseph Fenech said. He planned to watch the Siena-Juve match at the club on Sunday. “He won’t be there on Sunday but I’m sure he will be watching us from heaven... We will observe a minute of silence before the match,” Mr Fenech said adding that, with the permission of his mother, the club would be placing a Juve flag on his coffin during the funeral tomorrow.

“God now has a small Juventus angel.... He will be missed. He was a gentle person who always had a smile on his face and never harmed anyone,” he said.

Apart from loving football, Mr Latina loved his hometown, Cospicua, mayor Joe Scerri said adding that all people in Cospicua knew and loved him.

“He was obsessed with Cospicua and football. He wanted to strengthen our football team... He used to speak to everyone about everything even if he did not know them. You’d meet him walking about or riding his bicycle... One day he’d be in shorts and the next in a suit and tie,” he recalled.

“His death came as a big shock. Everyone in Cospicua is talking about him. We lost a good person,” he said.

A Facebook memorial page, paying tribute to Malta’s Nedved, has been set up and already had over 6,000 members by yesterday.

Student organisation Pulse said the accident highlighted the urgent need of incorporating First Aid in the educational system.

The funeral Mass will be said tomorrow at 8.30 a.m. at the Cospicua parish church.