Cardiff players afraid to fly after Emiliano Sala tragedy, reveals captain Sol Bamba
Bluebirds defender hopes that the 2-1 defeat at Arsenal will help the club start to cope with the grieving process
CARDIFF skipper Sol Bamba admits that some of the team are worried about flying following the disappearance of striker Emiliano Sala.
Sala’s grieving family are still conducting a search of the English Channel in the forlorn hope of finding the plane which failed to complete its journey from Nantes last week.
And Bamba revealed that everyone at Cardiff has been struggling to cope with the tragedy which has almost certainly claimed the life of the £15million Argentine striker and pilot David Ibbotson.
He said: “We travel by plane all the time and some of the lads were maybe thinking they don’t want to go on it any more.
“That’s how deeply we’ve all been affected by this big tragedy.
“The gaffer has been good in terms of bringing someone in to talk to if we need it and some of the lads have done that to get it off their chests.
“It’s been a very, very difficult week for the players, the club and the whole city.
“The search for Emiliano continues and where there’s life there’s hope. We all hope we can still find something good for his family.
“I have a personal connection with Emiliano because we work with the same agent and I spoke to him before he signed for Cardiff.
“But it would be wrong to say I feel more sad than the other lads. Everyone feels sad. We’re all missing him.
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“He asked me about the club, how he’d fit into the dressing-room, what the gaffer and the city are like.
“I only told him good things and he was looking forward to playing for Cardiff.
“He came to the club to visit the stadium and the training ground. He’d been talking to the lads and he was definitely part of us.”
French-born Bamba hopes that last night’s 2-1 defeat at Arsenal will help the club start to cope with the grieving process.
And he believes the way that everyone connected with Cardiff has responded has forged a feeling of unity throughout the city.
He says: “Before last night’s game there was a feeling of ‘let’s do it for Emiliano’.
“The gaffer said that if anyone didn’t feel like playing, he wouldn’t hold it against them. But all the lads wanted to play for him and credit to everyone for that.
“It’s been a very difficult and emotional week and I think we needed something like this game to start to get back to normal.
“As professionals, we’ve got a job to do and we wanted to win the game. Obviously that wasn’t to be but while we’re disappointed with the result we’re proud of the performance.
“Credit to everyone for the way we’ve all stuck together. The community of Cardiff has been very good.
“The fans never met Emiliano but what they did for him was remarkable and I’m sure we’re never forget that.”
