The game between Tenerife and FC Andorra was in its final minutes when one moment changed everything. Forward Jesús de Miguel was chasing the ball to start a counterattack, and the goalkeeper Jesús Owono stepped far out of his area to try to stop him.
Both players collided violently. De Miguel collapsed unconscious on the turf, received medical attention and was rushed to the University Hospital Nuestra Señora de Candelaria. He died the following morning. He was 30 years old and was a father to a young daughter.
Owono, the Andorra goalkeeper aged 25, was sent off for the incident. Since then he has remained at home, without a cell phone and cut off from contact with the outside world as he tries to process what happened.
How the goalkeeper is faring after the tragedy
FC Andorra decided to shield him from media noise and, especially, from the abuse he began to receive on social networks.
“Right now, he doesn’t even know who he is,” a source close to a teammate of his in the Equatorial Guinea national team told The Athletic. Another person in his circle said he is “devastated, locked in his home and disconnected from the world.”
There is, for the moment, no official information about a depression diagnosis. People close to the footballer describe him as deeply shocked, isolated and distressed as he tries to come to terms with the tragedy.
“These are the hardest days of my life”
Owono spoke for the first time through a statement released by his club.
“These are the hardest days of my life. I’m having trouble finding the words and it’s very hard to absorb what has happened,” he said.
He also referred to the pain caused by the striker’s death: “I think of Jesús, his family, and all the people who loved him.”
The goalkeeper said he would face the matters arising from the episode “with all due respect,” although he acknowledged that at the moment he cannot think of anything other than De Miguel and the pain his death left behind.
The club decided to stand by him
The goalkeeper did not participate in the voluntary training session that the squad held after the tragedy. FC Andorra preferred that he remain accompanied by his partner and his family, away from the news and from the messages circulating on social networks.
The club also provided psychological support to the players, the coaching staff, and employees affected by what happened.
“These are especially hard moments for everyone and we want to ensure that no one has to face them alone,” the club said.
Threats and racist abuse against the goalkeeper
In addition to the emotional impact, thousands of threats, hate messages, and racist insults targeted Owono. Even another footballer with the same surname, but not related to the goalkeeper, was attacked due to a case of mistaken identity.
Racism had haunted the goalkeeper’s life long before. In a LaLiga documentary released in 2024, he recounted that during his childhood he endured insults such as “monkey,” “go back to your country,” and “we don’t want you here.”
People who shared different stages of his career urged avoiding public judgment and described him as a loving and approachable young man. His teammates also stressed that he would never have intended to hurt another player.
While authorities investigate the circumstances of the episode and assess its sporting consequences, those around the goalkeeper asked for sensitivity. Behind that moment lay a family torn apart by an irreparable loss and a footballer trying to come to terms with a conclusion no one could have imagined.
