EPL: Christian Atsu’s wife in tears after emotional tribute
Christian Atsu’s wife and three children visited St James’ Park on Saturday evening to pay tribute to the late Ghana international.
A minute’s applause was observed ahead of Newcastle’s game against Liverpool after news of Atsu’s passing broke on Saturday morning. The 31-year-old’s body was discovered underneath the rubble – 12 days after a devastating earthquake hit Turkey and Syria.
More than 45,000 people are known to have died following the tragedy, with thousands more injured. Atsu, who played for the likes of Porto, Chelsea, Newcastle, Bournemouth and Everton, was on the books at Turkish club Hatayspor when the disaster struck.
Atsu’s body will be flown to Ghana ahead of his funeral. His wife Marie-Claire Rupio and his three children – two boys and a girl – were invited to the Liverpool game to pay tribute to the late star. The winger played 121 games for Newcastle during a five-year spell.
READ ALSO:Sadio Mane returns to training with Bayern Munich
As Newcastle fans applauded their former hero, Marie-Claire was spotted fighting back the tears and consoling her two sons. Liverpool fans joined in with the tribute by singing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ to show support to those grieving Atsu’s passing.
Atsu was reported missing shortly after the earthquake. He played for Hatayspor the evening before and scored a last-minute winner against Kasimpasa. He was scheduled to catch a flight that evening but decided to stay in Turkey – unaware of what was coming.
Hatayspor had initially announced that Atsu was found alive and pulled from the rubble on Tuesday, February 7. Yet the player’s agent Nana Sechere was unable to contact him. On Thursday, February 9, Hatayspor announced that Atsu was still missing.
Ghana’s foreign ministry have confirmed Atsu’s body will be flown back to the country of his birth. A statement read: “The Government of Ghana is making arrangements to receive the mortal remains of the late Christian Atsu, a former Black Stars player.
“The remains will be accompanied by his family and Ghana’s Ambassador to Turkiye on a Turkish airlines flight and will arrive in Accra at 7:40pm, Sunday 19th February, 2023.”
Atsu’s brother and sister were present when his body was recovered from the rubble. Rafa Benitez, who coached Atsu at Newcastle, paid tribute to the late star during Sky Sports’ coverage of Liverpool’s 2-0 win at St James’ Park.
Benitez said: “It’s really sad because he was a nice, nice, special person. He was a good professional. I don’t talk about if he’s a good player or not, he was a nice lad and a good player, but especially a really nice person. So a special person and everybody always, you can see the pictures, always with a smile playing or not playing.”