Much like all of Spanish football, Sergio Ramos has been stunned by the loss of his former Sevilla teammate Jose Antonio Reyes after he passed away in a car accident on Saturday.
The Real Madrid captain travelled to Seville to attend the mortuary chapel set up for him at Sevilla's Estadio Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan before speaking to the media.
"Today is one of the saddest days we can face, not just Sevilla fans, but on a personal level," he explained.
"It's a hard blow, we still can't believe it, you can't digest it in such little time.
"The loss of Jose Antonio is a great loss for us all, he was a great friend.
"These things happen in life, it's another chapter after what happened with Antonio Puerta.
"We have to support his family however possible and show them how he was, a great person who shared a lot of affection.
Ramos spoke fondly of Reyes' sense of humour, which he feels summed up how he was as a person.
"We will always remember him, we practically grew up together, we had the chance to make it, succeed and keep ourselves there, we've lived countless anecdotes, he always made you smile, that bit of humour, that joke, that prank.
"I have a thousand stories, we had a thousand jokes for the new guys who would come, and they always came from him.
"He always wanted us to remember him with an eternal smile, from ear to ear, he doesn't deserve any less than that for the great person he was, always worried about others.
"He deserves affection and eternal respect, we will celebrate all our victories with him wherever he may be, just like Antonio."
Ramos played alongside Reyes throughout their rise through the youth ranks before the latter moved to Arsenal as a teenager.
chekwasi
41
Apart from Football, Ramos would have been also a good poet. the way he is flowing out the emotional speech. is so touching and heart breaking. RIP Jose Antonio Reyes