Chapecoense crash survivor returns to pitch at Barcelona
BARCELONA, Spain — Eight months after surviving the plane crash that killed most of his Chapecoense teammates, Alan Ruschel played his first minutes of football on Monday when his Brazilian club met Barcelona in a friendly.
Ruschel and two teammates were the only Chapecoense players to not perish when the team’s flight went down in Colombia last year, killing all but six of the 77 players, officials and journalists on board.
All three were on the pitch on Monday in an emotional night at Camp Nou that was more about overcoming the tragedy that had decimated their club than about facing Lionel Messi’s Barcelona.
Barcelona eased to a 5-0 win, but the result mattered little to the players, coaches, or fans.