Ex-Bluebirds defender Fabio told Emiliano Sala he’d love it in Wales just days before the Nantes star’s fatal plane crash in January.
In the days leading up to the tragedy, Sala sought out the Brazilian – his teammate at Nantes – for information on the city, the people, the football and the Premier League.
The Argentinian was keen to pick the brains of the defender and find out all about Cardiff as a football club and as a city. “Then everything happened so fast, it was so tough,” Fabio told Teesside Live. “I cannot explain.” Nantes’ Nicolas Pallois received a text from Sala on Sunday lunchtime telling him the striker was setting off to Wales that night.
Pallois wished him luck and told him to send a text when he arrived but the message he was expecting never came.
“The next morning Nico said Sala hadn’t text and asked the club to call Cardiff to check he’s alright,” added Fabio.
“But Nico was OK at this stage, he was not worried because he thought Sala must have just forgotten. The guy who worked here called Cardiff and then we found out the plane hadn’t arrived.
As soon as he said that, everyone started to cry. When you say the plane is missing, we knew it was a big, big problem. “That should have been the best moment of his life: that’s what he’d been working for – a £15m move, playing Premier League football, his salary.
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That was the best time of his life. And that’s what is the worst part for me to think about. “He was such a fantastic guy, so brilliant to be around, a hard worker, first to arrive and last to leave.
He was so happy. Everyone will say the same about him. “I am a happy and positive guy anyway but this sort of thing, it makes you love the simple things. I came home that morning because we had no training, I came home and I hugged my two daughters and my wife like it was the last day of the world.
Because you just never know. Hug your daughters, smile at them every day, smile at everyone you love every day, because you just never know, you never know.”
