Stan’s Standing Ovation.

The 19th minute today at Villa Park was special. There were no goals scored, nor were there any red cards given. No, the 19th minute comprised of 60 raw seconds commemorating an excellent career, and an urge to keep fighting. You see, on Friday Aston Villa’s captain and #19, Stylian “Stan” Petrov, was diagnosed with acute leukemia, and will retire from the game he loves in an effort to defeat this to defeat this cancer. If it’s any consolation, the Bulgarian’s leukemia was caught in its early stages.

Petrov was in attendance at the match between Villa and Chelsea, and said afterwards:

“With the help and love of my family, my team-mates, all of my friends in football, Aston Villa and all of the fans, I am sure I will beat this illness and I am determined to do this.I saw the picture released yesterday by Fabrice Muamba, my fellow player, and it has inspired me as has all of the support in the past 24 hours. For me, football will have to take a back seat for a while, but I’m here to support my team-mates today and I will continue to support them as I know they will support me. Thank you to everyone.”