KOCHI: Italian Serie A club AS Roma paid tribute to Kerala origin 21-year-old Nicholas Kandathiparambil who passed away after a fatal car accident in Rome. Nicholas, whose father is from Ernakulam and mother from Kottayam was born and brought up in Rome and was a die-hard AS Roma fan. "Rest in Peace, Nicholas Kanda. Romanista forever," AS Roma's English Twitter handle wrote.
Nicholas was doing his Sports Management studies in the Netherlands but had gone to Rome for holidays when the accident happened.
AS Roma India also paid their tributes to the youngster.
"With profound sorrow and broken hearts, we say goodbye to our dear brother - Nicholas Kandathiparambil. We pray that his near and dear ones have enough strength to withstand the great loss. May his soul rest in peace. You will always be with us, Nicky!"
Nicholas along with his cousin Jerry was part of the AS Roma India fan club.
"We used to go for many games. He was a die-hard fan. Since his childhood, he was a Roma fan. He idolized Francesco Totti. We could talk about football for hours," said Jerry.
Nicholas was in the ICU for a week after his accident and few of the AS Roma players had sent his messages of support and the club even invited him to their training center when he recovered, but unfortunately, the youngster succumbed to his injuries.