Inter's Biabiany celebrates 1st goal since heart operation
An emotional day for Inter Milan winger Jonathan Biabiany was ameliorated when the 27-year-old scored his first goal in more than a year during the opening stanza of Inter's match against Serie A newboys Frosinone on Sunday.
RIght place at the right time for Biabiany, who collected the rebound from a Nicola Leali save on a long-range strike from Adem Ljalic and roofed it past the Frosinone 'keeper to give the home side a 29th-minute advantage.
The Paris-born attacker made his first start for Roberto Mancini's men since joining from Parma in the summer, and stood alongside teammates as La Marseillaise played as a tribute to the victims of the attacks in his hometown.
To compound the emotions associated with Sunday's match, it was Biabiany's first goal since missing all but one of Parma's matches last season following an operation for cardiac arrhythmia - a congenital illness that contributes to irregular heartbeats.
Cardiac arrhythmia and other forms of heart disease are no stranger to the world of football.
Cameroonian legend Marc-Vivien Foe died on the pitch during a 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup semifinal match against Colombia after he collapsed in the middle of the Stade de Gerland pitch without incident. A second autopsy determined that the former Manchester City and Lyon player died of complications from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
More recently, Bolton Wanderers midfielder Fabrice Muamba collapsed during an FA Cup match versus Tottenham at White Hart Lane in 2012 and quite likely would have died were it not for a prompt response from pitch-side medics. It was later determined that the Arsenal youth product had suffered a cardiac arrest stemming from the same affliction as Foe.
Sporting Lokeren's Gregory Mertens, 24, died during a match in April 2015, as did Livorno's Piermario Morosini during a Serie B match against Pescara two years earlier.
Those are but a few names among at least three dozen reported cases of footballers dying from previously undetected heart conditions since Foe's death in 12 years ago.
Biabiany may not have known that he had the condition were it not for a medical during a futile transfer to AC Milan during the 2014 summer transfer window.