Played to do justice to Dani Jarque’s memories, says Ferran Corominas

Ferran Corominas was one of the first to see Daniel Jarque motionless in their room at Coverciano, Italy, where Espanyol had gone for pre-seasons.

It was Andres Iniesta who immortalised Dani Jarque on football’s biggest stage. After scoring the only goal of the 2010 World Cup final, Iniesta took off his Spain shirt and showed the world a vest that had ‘Dani Jarque, siempre con nosotros’ (Dani Jarque always with us)’ emblazoned in blue. Jarque was Espanyol’s captain and their defensive mainstay who was cut down in the prime of his life at 26 in August 2009.

Jarque was also a teammate for Ferran Corominas. More than that, he was a friend who was four days older and the roommate with whom Coro spent hours playing video games, watching DVDs, sitting alongside in planes as they came through the youth ranks to the first team at Espanyol.

“We grew up not just at Espanyol but were also together in different age-group teams for Spain and everywhere he was my roommate,” said Coro, speaking with the help of a translator. He is somebody I have a lot of memories of, somebody whom I will always remember,” said Coro, who has scored 26 goals in 28 games for FC Goa since joining the Indian Super League (ISL) franchise last season.

Coro, 35, was also one of the first to see Jarque motionless in their room at Coverciano, Italy, where Espanyol had gone for pre-seasons. Reports in the Spanish media said Jarque’s partner, then pregnant, had called Coro after the player had suddenly stopped speaking over the phone on August 8. The rest of the team was at dinner which Jarque had said he would skip. After getting the call, Coro came up to the room with a club official.

“His partner called me to check on him and I alerted the team management…And out of the blue we lost him,” said Coro, who was here for Wednesday’s ISL game against ATK.

When Coro said that it was difficult to process Jarque’s passing, it seemed like he was understating the obvious. “It was a lot for us as a team to take in because it caught us by surprise. He had just been made captain,” he said. One way of dealing with losing Jarque is to hold on to the good memories, said Coro. “We had to move on and the desire to do justice to his memory helped me stay strong and continue as a professional.”