Hatayspor head coach, Volkan Demirel has stated that the late Christian Atsu was very generous, and a good player with good character.
Christian Atsu was part of the people that got trapped in collapsed buildings and perished after a devastating earthquake hit Turkey in February.
According to Volkan Demirel, the winger hasn't been out of action due to and injury. But he came into his office to inform him that he is ready to play.
Demirel added that he told Christian Atsu he wasn't ready to start so he brought him on in the last 10 mins and Atsu scored a wonderful free kick which was his last goal.
"For two months he’d not played because of injury but in the week building up to the game he came to my office and said that he was ready to play. I told him that’s good, but he wasn’t ready to start. In the last 10 minutes, we decided to put him on," Demirel told The Athletic.
“In the last minute, we got a free-kick and I was telling him to cross it, but he told his team-mates he was going to shoot, and he scored a beautiful free-kick,"
“I was so happy for him because he’d been out for a while. He was a good player, but most importantly a good man, a good character, he helped everyone, he would always give money to staff. He had a very big heart,"
“After the match, he said to me, ‘I want to keep playing’. The last time I saw him he was happy and then he was gone,”