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Football

23rd Jan 2019

Final audio message from Emiliano Sala released with permission of his family

Wayne Farry

The message was sent by the Cardiff City striker prior to take off from Nantes.

An audio message sent by Cardiff City’s missing striker Emiliano Sala prior to his flight from the French city of Nantes to Cardiff has been released to Argentine media with the permission of his family.

In the verified audio, which was originally published by Argentine media outlet Ole and was reportedly sent by Sala in a WhatsApp message to family and friends, he can be heard saying that the plane looked like it was “about to fall apart”.

“I’m here on a plane that looks like it’s about to fall apart, and I’m going to Cardiff, crazy, tomorrow we already start, and in the afternoon we start training, boys, in my new team,” he says.

“Let’s see what happens, so, how are you brothers and sisters, all right?

“If in an hour and a half you have no news from me, I don’t know if they are going to send someone to look for me because they cannot find me, but you know … Dad, how scared am I!”

Sala’s flight from France to the Welsh capital went missing on Monday morning over the Channel Islands, before his club confirmed his presence upon the small passenger airplane.

The 28-year-old, who became Cardiff’s record signing after joining for £15 million over the weekend, is missing and presumed dead, along with the pilot of the aircraft.

Guernsey Police have confirmed that they have suspended the search for the flight until Wednesday morning and that the chances of survival are “unfortunately slim”.