Thousands attended the wake of Uruguayan Nacional footballer Juan Manuel Izquierdo, who passed away on Tuesday in São Paulo after spending five days in the hospital.

Fans from various teams gathered outside the Tricolor headquarters, where the family and the club bid farewell to the player who lost his life at the age of 27 due to brain death following a cardiorespiratory arrest.

Flags of Nacional and Peñarol, along with jerseys from these and other teams like Liverpool and Fénix, adorned the area where attendees placed dozens of banners with messages and hundreds of flower bouquets.

During the two hours that the wake was open to the public, hundreds of fans entered the venue to say goodbye to Izquierdo, while many others were unable to do so and paid their respects from Avenida 8 de Octubre, which was closed off.

"I'm moved by the civic response of the Uruguayan people, who are showing the solidarity we all wish to see, supporting this family. I am deeply saddened, devastated, but I can't even begin to imagine what the family, who are most affected, are going through," said Nacional president Alejandro Balbi to the press.

He also expressed gratitude for the presence of players and officials from various teams, emphasizing the arrival of a delegation of São Paulo players, the Brazilian club Nacional faced last Thursday in the Copa Libertadores.

Argentinians Jonathan Calleri and Luciano Galoppo, Uruguayan Michel Araújo, and Brazilians Rapinha and Welington traveled on Wednesday night to bid farewell in Montevideo to the player who had collapsed on the pitch at São Paulo's stadium a week earlier and had to be taken away by ambulance.

Meanwhile, Uruguayan Football Association president Ignacio Alonso expressed his sorrow at what he considered an injustice and mentioned that the football governing body had already offered its support to the player's family.

"Life goes on, but sadly, a family is left shattered. A young widow now has a lot to face at an age where life is usually seen differently, and two small children who need a lot of support and care," he remarked.

Towards the end of the wake, longtime Nacional official Hernán Navascués reflected on the many times he had to say goodbye to people who had "a significant life of service to the club" and confessed that he had never experienced a moment as painful as that of this Thursday.

He recalled, in a brief speech, the brothers Carlos and Bolivar Céspedes, who died of smallpox in 1905, and Diego Rodríguez, who passed away at 22 on September 11, 2010, two days after a traffic accident in the Uruguayan capital.

Navascués also mentioned the historic Abdon Porte, who took his own life on March 5, 1918, at the age of 25, on the field of the Gran Parque Central stadium due to a knee injury that had cost him his place on the team and distanced him from football.

Minutes after Navascués spoke and the family said their goodbyes to Izquierdo, the footballer's coffin was placed in a hearse waiting at the headquarters' entrance.

The silence of that moment was broken by the applause of thousands of fans, who immediately began singing a Nacional supporters' song.

"Not even death will separate us; from heaven, I will cheer for you," chanted the fans on a day of mourning for the football world.