The former Lazio and Inter striker’s words after the death of his teammate at Barcelona de Guayaquil: “I came here with my heart rather than my head, and what happened has affected me deeply.”

When you see a teammate die, or rather, when a teammate is killed on the street at the age of 33, your perspective changes. You cry, you reflect, you set new priorities. This is probably what prompted former Lazio, Genoa, and Inter striker Felipe Caicedo to say enough is enough with soccer. On December 18, in broad daylight, in the city of Guayaquil, Mario Pineida of Barcelona Sporting Club was shot and killed, along with his wife.

The choice—  The news left Ecuador in shock and prompted Caicedo, 37, to decide to leave everything behind: “I will most likely retire. I have no intention of continuing. Mario Pineida’s death has affected me deeply, and I don’t want to know anything about soccer anymore. I will not stay at Barcelona. I am a man who lives in the moment, and when I decided to come here, I did so more with my heart than with my head.”