Sala's body found, football world pays tribute

Tributes from the football world poured in after the body from plane wreckage was identified as Sala

Tributes from the football world poured in after the body retrieved from the wreckage of a crashed plane in the English Channel was formally identified as Cardiff City’s Argentina-born football player Emiliano Sala, British police said in a statement on Thursday.

Sala, 28, had been flying from his previous club Nantes in western France to Wales on January 21 to make his debut for the Premier League team when the single-engined Piper Malibu aircraft disappeared over the sea.



Tributes

The club said in a statement: "We offer our most heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the family of Emiliano.

"He and David will forever remain in our thoughts."

Club Statement (07/02/19): https://t.co/ib8zJfWzvC

Forever in our thoughts 💙

— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) February 7, 2019

Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero‏, a fellow Argentinian, tweeted: “Rest in peace, Emiliano. My condolences to his friends and family #PrayForSala”.

Enorme tristeza 😢 QEDP Emiliano. Mis condolencias a familiares y amigos #PrayForSala 🙏🏾//Terribly sad 😢 Rest in peace, Emiliano. My condolences to his friends and family #PrayForSala 🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/n9aV5CGcI1

— Sergio Kun Aguero (@aguerosergiokun) February 8, 2019

Arsenal player Mesut Ozil‏ tweeted: “No words to describe how sad this is. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and also to the family of the pilot. #RIPsala”.

No words to describe how sad this is. 😪 Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and also to the family of the pilot. ❤🙏🏼 #RIPsala pic.twitter.com/Uirj6etfZk

— Mesut Özil (@M10) February 7, 2019

PSG player Kylian Mbappe simply tweeted: "RIP Emi"

RIP EMI 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

— Kylian Mbappé (@KMbappe) February 7, 2019

Argentinian football great Diego Maradona also posted a tribute on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BtmkpnYlf2l/

Wreckage was found on Sunday following a privately-funded underwater search and a body recovered on Wednesday and taken to southern England.

“The body brought to Portland Port today... has been formally identified by HM Coroner for Dorset as that of professional footballer Emiliano Sala,” the police statement said.

“The families of Mr Sala and the pilot David Ibbotson have been updated with this news and will continue to be supported by specially-trained family liaison officers. Our thoughts remain with them at this difficult time.”

Cardiff posted the statement on their website under a picture of the player.

“We offer our most heartfelt sympathies and condolences to the family of Emiliano. He and David will forever remain in our thoughts,” the Welsh club said.



Sala had agreed to join relegation-threatened Cardiff for a club-record fee of 15 million pounds ($19.43 million) from French Ligue 1 club Nantes.

Police said an investigation into the circumstances of the death was continuing.

Efforts to recover the aircraft wreckage have so far been unsuccessful due to poor weather conditions.

The plane had been cruising at 5,000 feet (1,525 m) when the pilot requested to descend to a lower altitude on passing Guernsey. It then lost radar contact at 2,300 feet.

Argentine newspaper Clarin last month published a voice message that Sala, who had played in France since 2012 and scored 12 goals for Nantes this season, apparently sent to friends while in the air.

“We’re up in the plane and it seems it’s about to crash,” said the message, which Clarin said was verified by Sala’s father, Horacio Sala.

“If you have not heard anything from me in an hour and a half, I don’t know if they’re going to send someone to find me, because, you know, they’re not going to be able to,” the message said. “Dad. I’m really scared.”