A minute's silence was observed ahead of Cardiff City's first match on Tuesday against Arsenal following the disappearance of its latest record signing Emiliano Sala. The aircraft carrying Sala and pilot David Ibbotson had vanished over the English Channel over a week ago.
Sala, who was signed by Cardiff City for a reported fee of 17 million euros (USD 19.3 million) from French club Nantes, was on his way to take part in his first training session with his new team when the plane he was travelling on disappeared from radars.
Fans hold up yellow sheets and a flag as a tribute to Emiliano Sala | Reuters
The captains of Cardiff City and Arsenal, Sol Bamba and Mesut Ozil, laid flowers on the pitch before the match. Fans waved banners, Argentina flags and jerseys as the game started.
Cardiff manager Neil Warnock, who brokered the deal that brought Sala to Cardiff City, said that the past week has been the toughest of his 40-year career.
“It's been a traumatic week and even now I can't get my head around the situation. It's probably hit me harder than anyone else as I've met the lad and talked to him for the last six to eight weeks.”
Search operations for the Argentine player yielded no result and was called off on Thursday last week. A privately-funded search, however, has continued after people contributed to a crowdfunding page which raised over 360,000 euros.
With inputs from agencies
