Emiliano Sala is gone. It’s a sad truth the football world must come to grips with, the wreckage of his crashed plane found at the bottom of the English Channel on Sunday, about two weeks after it disappeared days after his transfer from Nantes to Cardiff City.
The discovery of the plane may bring some closure to his family, friends, teammates, fans and opponents, who have displayed an outpouring of love of the last two weeks.
But someone who cannot come to terms with the loss is Nala, Sala’s beautiful rescue dog.
Emiliano Sala’s sister, Romina, posted to Facebook an image of Nala waiting for her dad to return home, a heartbreaking reminder of those the Argentine footballer left behind.
Emiliano Sala's sister, Romina, shared this sad but beautiful photo of his dog, Nala. "Nala is waiting for you too." pic.twitter.com/J7b0U3hn3H
— 433 (@official433) February 5, 2019
Absolutely heartrending.
The sweet girl, presumably named after Simba’s love interest in “The Lion King,” is waiting for Emiliano Sala, hoping against all odds that he will return to her in the same tradition as Hachikō, the Japanese Akita who would meet his owner at the train station every day after work, even after his owner passed away suddenly.
A recent photo posted by Emiliano #Sala’s sister Romina on Facebook yesterday showing his saddened dog waiting for him to come home...Emiliano must surely have been a really good guy pic.twitter.com/T2IFpgDx2G
— Alessandro Schiavone (@AlessandroLdn) February 4, 2019
Anyone who has ever had a pet understands this sort of unconditional love.
We don’t really have much else to say about it, other than to go hug our pets (and loved humans), weep and maybe watch that episode of Futurama that ends in similar a fashion. And then cry some more.