Van den Belt moved by death of former teammate Jesús de Miguel: 'Football a welcome escape'

Van den Belt was emotional during a minute's silence for former teammate Jesús de Miguel, who died after a collision during a match in Spain on Monday.

Thomas van den Belt was deeply affected by the death of his former teammate Jesús de Miguel. The FC Twente midfielder was emotional during a minute's silence before their match and struggled to process the news.

De Miguel, 30, collided with goalkeeper Jesús Owono during Tenerife's match against Andorra on Monday and was taken to hospital. He died on Tuesday. Van den Belt and De Miguel had played together at Castellón under manager Dick Schreuder.

Speaking after Twente's victory over Pafos, Van den Belt said: "It was very strange. I was at home Monday evening and saw it didn't look good and that he had to go to hospital. I woke up and saw things weren't going well and that he had passed away." He added that playing football provided a welcome distraction from the grief.