Arsenal's Brazilian defender Gabriel has delivered an emotional tribute to his late friend Caio Junior, the Chapecoense coach who was one of 71 people killed in a plane crash in Colombia.
The charter jet carrying the Chapecoense team, along with club officials and journalists, to Medellin for their Copa Sudamericana final match against Colombian side Atletico Nacional came down late on Monday night.
The extent of Chapecoense’s loss became clear with the confirmed deaths of players and officials of the Brazilian club who were on the flight.
Only three players — defender Alan Luciano Ruschel, reserve goalkeeper Jackson Ragnar Follmann and centre-back Helio Hermito Zampier Neto — were listed as among the six survivors, as well as journalist Rafael Valmorbida and crew members Ximena Suarez and Erwin Timuri.
Gabriel joined Arsenal from Spanish side Villarreal in January 2015, the 26-year-old having initially come to Europe after progressing through the youth ranks of Brazilian club Vitoria.
The centre-back played for Arsenal in their 2-0 EFL Cup quarter-final defeat by Southampton at the Emirates Stadium, before which a minute’s silence had been observed.
Following the match, Gabriel gave an emotional interview with in-house club media, which was later posted on the official Arsenal Twitter feed.
The player broke down as he recalled memories of his one-time coach at Vitoria and friend.
“This is really hard to take. It is something we never imagine will happen with us or a close friend,” Gabriel said.
“I played for Vitoria for five years and I worked with the coach and the backroom staff, and two other players as well. We were very close friends.
“The minimum I can do is send my condolences to all their families and wish that they can carry on.
“I ask for strength for this team that enchanted Brazilian football, a group that five years ago was in the fourth division and surprised everybody.
“We only have good memories to keep in our hearts from this team and the friends I made through football.”
Gabriel added: “We have a message group from Brazil and I texted them to say, ‘don’t leave for tomorrow what you can do for today’.
“I say that because on my last birthday I felt this urge to talk to Caio Junior and for some reason I left it for another day and then this tragedy happens.
“So if you think you want to do something just get out of there and do it because we don’t know what tomorrow brings.”
Rebuilding
Brazil’s leading football clubs have pledged to loan players to Chapecoense for free and asked for them to be safeguarded from relegation from the top flight.
Chapecoense’s acting president Ivan Tozzo told a news conference the club would rebuild, but only with support of the Brazilian football community.
“Our club has one of the smallest budgets in Brazil and we are not a very big team,” Tozzo said.
“We will need a lot of support from the clubs and also from the Globo TV network and the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation).
“We need support to rebuild our team, because we lost most of what we had and we will have to start all over again.
“Since 2009 we have been through Serie D and reached Serie A, but from next week we won’t have 11 players to take the field.
“So we need the support of all the clubs and especially the CBF and Globo TV.”
Officials from Colombia’s civil aviation authority said at a news conference in Medellin they believed the plane had run out of fuel when it went down some 11 miles from the Jose Maria Cordova de Rionegro airport.
Secretary for the Air Safety Special Administrative Unit of Civil Aeronautics Freddy Bonilla said: “We can clearly state that the aircraft had no fuel at the time of impact, so we started an investigation process to establish the cause.”
In an update on the club’s official website, Chapecoense confirmed Follmann remained in a “serious condition” after having one leg amputated, while defender Neto was in a critical but stable condition.
Ruschel had undergone “surgery of the spine, but has normal movements in his arms and legs”, while journalist Valmorbida, of Radio Oeste Capital, had a “thoracic (chest) trauma and a leg fracture” and was “also critical, but the outlook is optimistic”.
President of Atletico Mineiro has, meanwhile, said the club will not play the final match of the Brazilian Serie A season against Chapecoense which had been postponed until December 11th to “respect the pain” of all touched by the tragedy.
Premier League players will this weekend wear black armbands and observe a minute’s silence as a mark of respect.
A minute’s silence will also be held ahead of all of next week’s Champions League and Europa League matches.
