Sierra Leone football fan dies after Manchester United defeat

The popular English football premier league has claimed the life of a second victim in Sierra Leone in under five months.

A rabid fan of Manchester United FC died on Monday following the defeat of his team by rival Manchester City club, his close relatives said.

Manchester City defeated their arch-rivals 1-0 on the night in a match that hogged the attention in football-mad Sierra Leone.

The elderly Pa Abu Bakarr Sesay, a resident of the capital Freetown, collapsed and died after Man City's Vincent Kompany scored the only goal late in the first half.

The deceased’s son, Abu Sesay, was sitting beside his late father when he abruptly left the cinema hall where they were watching the game.

"Just after the goal was scored, my father left the hall unceremoniously without saying a word,” reports carried in the local media quoted the son as saying.

Reportedly, the old man found the taunting by Manchester City supporters and those opposed anyway to Manchester United to be too much.

Such incidents have become increasingly common following the runaway popularity of the English league in Africa.

In Kenya, a football fan was on the same night stabbed to death following a heated argument after the much-anticipated match.