Bobby Reid has scored twice as Cardiff City beat Bournemouth 2-0 in an English Premier League game that turned into a celebration of Bluebirds player Emiliano Sala, who is missing and presumed dead following a suspected plane crash.
The Cardiff players held up a T-shirt bearing the image of the 28-year-old Sala, who never played a game for the club, after Reid rifled home an early penalty to give the relegation-threatened hosts the lead in the fifth minute.
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Argentinian Sala, who had agreed to join Cardiff for a club-record fee of £19 million ($NZ36.6m) from French Ligue 1 club Nantes, was aboard a small plane that disappeared last month, and he and pilot David Ibbotson are believed to have died as it crashed into the sea.
Fans were handed daffodils as they entered the Cardiff City Stadium and the players' tribute following Reid's fifth-minute penalty was followed in the 28th minute by a round of applause that swelled around the ground as fans sang Sala's name.
Reid added a second goal 15 seconds after the break to put his side two up and seal three valuable points in their battle to avoid relegation but, despite an outstanding performance, they remain third from bottom on 22 points, two behind Burnley.
Bournemouth were a shadow of the side that hammered Chelsea 4-0 in their midweek league clash, and they remain in 10th position in the table on 33 points.
Reuters
