Newcastle United and Liverpool fans turned a planned minute’s silence into an emotional round of applause following the death of their former player Christian Atsu whose body has been recovered from underneath the rubble of the building where he lived in Turkey.
Atsu had been missing since the earthquake that caused so much devastation in Turkey and Syria for nearly two weeks.
The 31-year-old’s family was at St James’ Park for Saturday night’s game against Liverpool. Newcastle co-owner Mehrdad Ghoudoussi wrote on Twitter that the club had “lost one of their own.”
The tribute to Atsu came after an equally emotional minute’s applause to mark what would have been the 90th birthday of former Newcastle and England manager Sir Bobby Robson.
Atsu had been scheduled to fly out of southern Turkey hours before the quake, but Hatayspor’s manager said on Friday the Ghanaian opted to stay with the club after scoring the game-winning goal in the Super Lig match on February 5.
Several other Premier League clubs, including Liverpool, Chelsea, Everton, Bournemouth, and West Ham, also paid tribute via their socials.
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