Edgardo Fabian Pratola Obel ( Spanish Edgardo Fabián Prátola Hobel ; May 20, 1969 , La Plata - April 28, 2002 , La Plata ), nicknamed Russian - Argentinian footballer , right back. Symbol of Estudiantes 1990s.
 Edgardo Pratola | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Edgardo Fabian Pratola Obel | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Russian ( isp. Ruso ) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Was born | May 20, 1969 La Plata , Argentina | ||||||||||||||||||
| Is dead | April 28, 2002 (32 years) La Plata , Argentina | ||||||||||||||||||
| Citizenship |  Argentina | ||||||||||||||||||
| Position | defender | ||||||||||||||||||
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Career
Pratola began his career at the Estudiantes Club in 1988 . He played for Estudiantes for 8 years, was the leader and captain of the team, together with her he survived the flight to the second Argentine division in the 1994/1995 season and returned to Example a year later. In 1996, Pratola went to Mexico to play for the Leon club, then returned to Argentina and, in transit through the season to the Union Santa Fe , again came to Estudiantes.
On April 21, 2001, Pratola was diagnosed with colon cancer. Since then, Pratola, together with his wife Anna Laura and daughters, three-year-old Camila and Lara, eleven months old, were forced to fight the disease. He left football, although he remained part of the team. Pratola went through many operations, he struggled with the disease for 13 months, but the cancer was stronger, on March 26, 2002 he was hospitalized in Italy , and on April 28, Edgardo Pratola did not. Estudiantes wanted to cancel the match with Independiente , but Pratola, who was already dying in the hospital, asked the team to play this game, before the match, Estudiantes players held hands for a minute of silence, there were tears in the eyes of the players, especially Diego Colotto , Pratola's best friend, was very worried, and he also opened the scoring in this game. On April 29, in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, a mass dedicated to the memory of Parola took place, with all of the Estudiantes players on it.
In 2006 , after the victory of Estudiantes over Boca Juniors , which brought victory in the aperture, Estudintez players showed T-shirts in honor of Pratola, and the captain of the club, Veron , mentioned it in an emotional speech that was broadcast to the whole stadium and led to chanting fans of one word: “Ruso!”