Miguel ‘Miki’ Roqué, a Real Betis defender who started out in Barcelona’s youth ranks and had a stint at Liverpool, has died of cancer at the age of 23, Betis said on Sunday.
“Miki Roqué had been fighting pelvic cancer since March 2011,” the La Liga club said in a statement on their website.
He had surgery to remove the tumor in May of that same year after Betis raised funds to pay for the defender’s treatment by selling wrist-bands with the player’s name written on them.
Miki Roque arrived at Betis from Liverpool FC in the summer of 2009 and debuted for the first team in October 2010.
Over the following months he was an important part of the defense until March of the next year, when his grave condition was made public.
