Tears As Chapecoense Play First Game After Plane Crash

 There were tears and cheers as Chapecoense, a Brazillan team, played its first match after losing virtually all their players in a plane crash on November 18, 2016 on their way for the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final against Colombian side, Atletico Nacional.
But there cannot have been a more enduring image than the lifting of the Copa Sudamericana trophy by the surviving players of Chapecoense on Saturday.
Neto, Alan Ruschel and Jackson Follmann were presented with the trophy that was awarded to the Brazilian club after their team-mates died in a plane crash on the way to face Colombia’s Nacional in the first leg of the 2016 final on 29 November.
Follmann, who was the reserve goalkeeper, left his hospital bed for the afternoon to be at the stadium, where the club were playing their first match since the crash.
Recovering from a partial leg amputation, he was pushed on to the pitch in a wheelchair by former Chapecoense goalkeeper, Nivaldo.
Neto has just started walking without crutches, while Ruschel is targeting May for his return to football.
The first thing Ruschel did upon returning to Chapeco on Saturday was visit his favourite bakery.
“Yes, this was the first place I went to; we woke up really early and we hadn’t eaten, so the first place we went to was the bakery,” he said.
“We used to go there, me, [goalkeeper] Danilo and Follmann after training, so it was a good place for this new start.”