Former Chelsea boss Luis Felipe Scolari has caused outrage after making a joke about a plane crash whilst talking about potential new signings in the wake of the Emiliano Sala tragedy.
Scolari made the joke after he saw his Palmeiras side beat Argentine side Godoy Cruz 4-0 in the Copa Libertadores.
The former Portugal boss was asked about the possibility of bringing in new reinforcements to help the team in their upcoming tournaments and he said: “Mattos, Cicero and the president know the backup to deal with. They will work with the names that I give them but I am not going to tell you now. For one, because a plane could crash tomorrow and kill everyone. If a few guys died, I would even let off some fireworks.”
The controversial comments come after Argentine striker Emiliano Sala’s plane crashed in January 2019 as he was en route to be unveiled as a Cardiff City player. The striker died in the accident and his body was later found in the English Channel.
Local media also compared the comments to the tragedy of Brazilian side Chapecoense, who saw 19 players and the Head Coach of the team die when a plane carrying the team to a match in Colombia crashed on 28th November 2016, killing 71 of the 77 people on board.
Scolari went on to say: “But you guys aren’t players, you guys (the journalists) don’t understand my joke. I will wait until next week to see what happens”.
Scolari and his team suffered some issues with flights this week when the plane carrying them to the city of Mendoza to face Godoy Cruz had to re-route twice in-flight before successfully landing in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.
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Story By: Juan Mayes , Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Golder’s News And Sport
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