Emiliano Sala's body was identified last week after a tragic event that shocked the world of sport.

The Argentine forward had just agreed to join Cardiff City from French club Nantes in a club record £15m deal but his plane travelling from France to south Wales crashed over the English Channel.

Sala had scored 13 goals in 21 appearances this season which led the Bluebirds to splash out on the forward in the hope of retaining their status in the Premier League.

A body was tragically discovered in the wreckage of the plane after a private search was funded.

And now Sala's body has been flown back to Argentina for a vigil with family members already waiting there to mourn the loss of the footballer.

Harrowing audio emerged of Sala's last-known message to his friends on WhatsApp before taking off in the plane that he said "looks like it's about to fall apart".

In the message - which you can listen to HERE - the 28-year-old appeared to joke that if his friends don't hear from him to "send someone to look for me because they cannot find me".

"Hello little brothers, how are you crazy people?" said Sala, per the Mirror. "Brother, I'm dead, I was here in Nantes doing things, things, things, things and things, and it never stops, it never stops, it never stops.

"I'm here on a plane that looks like it's about to fall apart.

"I'm going to Cardiff, crazy, tomorrow we already start, and in the afternoon we start training, boys, in my new team. Let's see what happens. So, how are you brothers and sisters, all right?

"If in an hour and a half you have no news from me, I don't know if they are going to send someone to look for me because they cannot find me, but you know... Dad, how scared am I!"