Former Orlando Pirates midfielder Marshall Munetsi has opened up about the tragic suicide of his club's team doctor at Stade Reims.
The Ligue 1 club confirmed the death of doctor Bernard Gonzales on Sunday evening after it was reported in local press that he had taken his own life and left a note behind.
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It was claimed that one of the reasons was due to contracting the coronavirus, which Munetsi believes could be the case as he recalls how Gonzales was more than just a team doctor at the club.
Labelling him as "one of the best doctors he ever worked with", the Zimbabwe international admits Gonzales was "loved by everyone" and personally helped him when he arrived from South Africa.
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"Right now we don't have all the information," Munetsi tells snl24.com/kickoff about the doctor who joined the club in 1997. "Let me just say he was a very, very good man and human being.
"He worked with us daily, day in day out at the training camp and if you had any problems he was always there.
"Also him being able to speak English when I first came here, a lot of the guys couldn't speak English but he would be someone who helped me really settle in."
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He added: "When we got the news on Sunday evening we were all devastated because we knew he was one of the good doctors in the city, so he was in the forefront to help people with the virus.
"I think that's obviously where he got the virus but to the reasons why he died, we don't really know - they [the press] just said it was suicide.
"But the club hasn't disclosed the information to us because they say there is a letter that is there that reveals the reasons he did what he did."
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RIP DOCTOR GONZALEZ ?????? pic.twitter.com/sINyxAYtdS
— marshall_nyasha_munetsi (@MarshallMunetsi) April 5, 2020