Two fans of Real Madrid died weekend at Lagos Island, following the club’s inability to get an early equaliser against Athletico Madrid.
Identities of the deceased were given as Olusoga Ogunbanjo (39), a refrigerator technician who resided at 23A, Smith Street, off Evan Street and Bambo Sholeye, (42), said to be a staff of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority ,LAWMA, who resided at 49/51 Apatira Street, off Olushi Street both in Lagos Island.
Reports said Sholeye who went to watch the match in a shop, later stormed out in frustration before the regulation time. He was said to have lamented the failure of the club to equalise the one goal scored by Atiletico Madrid in the first half .
Reports said he sat in front of his house still lamenting ,when he slumped . Unfortunately, he did not live to see his expectation come true , as efforts to resuscitate him in a private hospital where he was said to have been rushed to, failed as he was confirmed dead. Real Madrid, however, won the match 4-1. He did not live to see his Club lift the Champions League the 10th time.
Ogunbanjo on his part was said to have gone to a saloon on Okepopo street, off Olushi, to have his hair cut but decided to watch the match alongside other football fans.
When it became apparent that Real Madrid could not equalise, some of his friends were said to have started making jest of the club’s fans,when all of a sudden Soga as he was popularly called, reportedly slumped.
Owner of the shop where Ogunbanjo slumped , one Danku explained that : “ Soga came to have his hair cut. When that was done, he said he would watch the UEFA championship match between Real and Atiletico Madrid and when it was 90 minutes and Real Madrid has not ‘levelled-up’ , there was tension among fans that Real Madrid had lost the match”.
“A boy sitting beside Soga noticed when he slumped and raised alarm. Infact, he slumped on him. We quickly rushed him to the emergency unit of Island General Hospital where he was confirmed dead by medical doctors on duty”.
We gathered that their remains were buried yesterday morning at a public burial ground on the Island .