Newly-appointed Espanyol captain Dani Jarque was found dead in his Coviciana hotel room Saturday night. The centre-back is said to have suffered from heart failure some time after returning from training during Espanyol's pre-season tour of Italy while talking to his girlfriend on the telephone. While she attempted to contact the hotel to let them know he had stopped talking, room-mate Ferran Corominas alerted the coaches that Jarque had not come down for dinner with the squad. After reaching his room, club medics attempted to revive the 26-year-old and so did the ambulance crew when they arrived, but neither could start the player's heart. "Tragedy struck Espanyol and the family of Dani Jarque this evening. The player died from a cardiac arrest," said a club statement. "The doctor carried out CPR on the player and used a defibrillator, which showed that the arrest was non responsive. "RCD Espanyol, broken with pain, wish to put themselves at the absolute disposition of the family of our captain Dani Jarque, to whom go our warmest thoughts." Jarque's death comes two years after the death of Sevilla's Antonio Puerta, who collapsed on the field during his team's Spanish league match against Getafe. "We are returning to Barcelona on Sunday but we can't come back with the coffin because they have to do an autopsy to confirm the cause of death," added club director German de la Cruz. "The players are destroyed. One minute he was there with them, and the next he's gone. It's terrible." The tragic news came only one month after the player - who had spent his entire professional career at the club - was appointed captain of los Pericos. Credit: Stephen Crawford, Goal.com