EMILIANO Sala should be in the Cardiff team against Saints today.

Sala, 28, was on his way to Cardiff from Nantes on 21, January 2019 when the plane he was travelling on crashed into the English Channel.

Daily Echo: Cardiff pay tribute to Emiliano SalaCardiff pay tribute to Emiliano Sala

The striker had just become the Welsh side’s record-signing in a £15m deal, but would never don the Bluebirds’ kit.

Saints midfielder Oriol Romeu first heard about the tragedy on TV and revealed the shock he felt.

“I remember seeing it on the Spanish news and I couldn’t believe it,” the Spaniard reflected.

“I didn’t know who he was, but I just hope he is going to appear somewhere.

“It’s quite shocking that these things happen nowadays, especially with all the modern things we have where it’s easy to locate every one of us.

“Although we all play football, and we are in a very good situation, I don’t think we are ever away from danger.

“Our families and our friends go through rough moments and we know how tough it can be sometimes.

Daily Echo: Oriol RomeuOriol Romeu

“Cardiff have had a good reaction after such shocking news.

“Sometimes teams get down as soon as they have bad things, and are sort of depressed, but the way they played against Bournemouth was amazing.

“The way they were fighting for every ball was great.

“They’ve had this shocking news, but they’ve taken it positively and it’s made them stronger.”

Cardiff responded to the news with a valiant display against Arsenal before comfortably beating Bournemouth 2-0.

This has seen them close the gap to the St Mary’s side to just two points, and a win today could see Ralph Hasenhuttl’s side drop into the relegation zone.

Despite what’s happened, Romeu knows he will have to put Saints before the sympathy he feels for Cardiff when they walk out on to the pitch this afternoon.

He’s expecting them to be galvanised by the Sala tragedy, but wants to see how they respond if they go a goal down against Hasenhuttl’s men.

“It can happen, but I want to see what happens when they are losing 1-0 or 2-0,” Romeu continued.

“If we put them under pressure, we start leading and then continue attacking again and again, they may have a bad reaction.

“But against Bournemouth, everything was like working nicely. 

“They scored the second straight after half time and they could play the game in their style, so I could say it was easier.

“I want to see how they react when we put them under pressure.

“We aren’t going to be thinking they’ll be down after one goal because that’s not our idea and that’s not what we are expecting.

Daily Echo: Romeu credits Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl for the club's recent formRomeu credits Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl for the club's recent form

“We are expecting a tough team and we expect that it won’t be an easy game at all.”
Romeu then compared the situation at Saints now to just before Hasenhuttl took charge of the club in December.

And had it not been for the Austrian’s influence, he reckons Saints would probably be cut adrift at the bottom by now.

He added: “Winning this match will give us a five-point difference from relegation and that’s something that if you asked us three months ago, we would have said that’s not going to happen.

“Winning this one would put us in an amazing situation, nothing’s done obviously, but in a much better situation than a month ago.

“It’s a nice feeling compared to how it was before.”