As more information emerges about the plane crash which killed more than a dozen Chapecoense players, tributes are pouring in for those who lost their lives in the tragedy.
Arsenal’s Brazilian defender Gabriel was in tears during a minute’s silence at the Emirates Stadium before his club’s EFL Cup defeat to Southampton, holding up a banner that read ‘Força Chape’.
Gabriel and Lucas Perez hold a #ForcaChape banner up before the game, with the Brazilian crying for his fellow countrymen. #afc pic.twitter.com/9pcXox6C8Y
— UberArsenal (@UberAFC) November 30, 2016
In the competition’s other quarter-final on Wednesday evening, Manchester United defeated West Ham United 4-1.
Manager José Mourinho was not on the touchline for the game as he was serving an FA ban, but he spoke to broadcaster Sky Sports after the match and paid tribute to Chapecoense manager Caio Júnior.
The Brazilian, who was 51 years old, spent much of his playing career in Portugal when Mourinho was ending his own playing career and beginning his work as an interpreter and then as a coach.
And Mourinho said Caio Júnior has left “many friends” behind in the European country, where he played for Vitória Guimarães, Estrela Amadora, and Mourinho’s former club Belenenses.
19 of the 22 Chapecoense players on board the flight to Medellín earlier this week lost their lives in the tragedy, while a 20th – Jakson Follmann – had a leg amputated after the accident.
The club, who were due to play in the Copa Sudamericana final, have since released a video which they say is how they want the players to be remembered.
