Owono breaks silence after De Miguel tragedy: ‘The most difficult days of my life’
Jesús Owono
Equatorial Guinea goalkeeper Jesús Owono has spoken publicly for the first time since the death of CD Tenerife striker Jesús de Miguel, delivering a raw and deeply personal tribute to a fellow professional whose passing has shaken Spanish football to its core.
By Pascal Okoth
There are moments in sport when results, standings and rivalries become entirely irrelevant. The death of Jesús de Miguel, the 30-year-old CD Tenerife striker who suffered life-threatening injuries during a Segunda División match against FC Andorra, is one of them. Yesterday, the man most closely associated with that tragic incident finally found the words — or as close to them as grief allows.
Equatorial Guinea goalkeeper Jesús Owono broke his silence with an emotional public statement that laid bare the anguish of a footballer trying to process the unprocessable. His message was not polished or strategic. It was honest, raw and human — which made it all the more affecting.
“These are being the most difficult days of my life,” Owono wrote. “It’s hard for me to find the words, and I find it very difficult to assimilate anything that has happened.”
That admission — from a professional athlete trained to perform under intense pressure — speaks to the weight of what occurred on that pitch. Football demands composure. Grief does not.
Owono directed his thoughts not only towards de Miguel, but towards the people left behind — the family, the friends, the teammates, the supporters who loved him. It is in those quiet acknowledgements that the full human cost of such tragedies becomes visible.
“I feel enormous pain for the loss of Jesús,” he wrote. “I think of him, his family and all the people who loved him.”
He also signalled an awareness that the circumstances surrounding de Miguel’s death would likely require further examination in the days and weeks ahead. Rather than deflecting or staying silent on the matter, Owono addressed it directly, pledging to face whatever comes with dignity and respect.
“I know that there will be many issues to address,” he said. “I will face whatever comes with all due respect.”
It was a measured statement that acknowledged the complexity of the situation without minimising the grief at its centre. For now, he made clear, questions of accountability and process would have to wait. Something more pressing demanded his attention.
“But right now, honestly, I can’t think of anything other than Jesús and the pain we are experiencing.”
He closed his tribute with six words that needed no elaboration: “Rest in peace, Jesús.”
De Miguel was 30 years old — a professional in the middle of his career, with years of football and life still ahead of him. His death has reverberated far beyond Tenerife and the Segunda División, prompting an outpouring of tributes from players, clubs and supporters across Spain and beyond. In a sport that moves relentlessly — next fixture, next result, next season — his passing has forced a rare and necessary pause.
Owono’s statement matters not only because of his connection to the incident, but because of what it represents: a reminder that the men who play professional football are, beneath the contracts and the television coverage and the transfer fees, human beings navigating the same fragility as everyone else. The pitch does not shield them from loss. It simply makes that loss more public.
Spanish football will be required to address the specific circumstances of de Miguel’s death through the appropriate channels, with the care and sensitivity the situation demands. That process will unfold in time. Investigations will be conducted, questions will be asked and answers will eventually be sought.
But Owono’s message was not about process. It was about a man he watched lose his life, and the grief that does not resolve itself because a statement has been issued or a press conference held.
For the de Miguel family, no tribute will be sufficient. For Spanish football, no lesson will feel adequate. And for Jesús Owono, standing at the centre of one of the sport’s most heartbreaking recent moments, the most difficult days of his life are not yet behind him.
Rest in peace, Jesús de Miguel.
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