On the evening of Sunday, February 5, a match in the Turkish Super League was held at the new Hatay Stadium, between the home team Hatayspor and the visiting team Kasımpaşa. After 82 minutes of a scoreless game, Hatayspor's coach, Volkan Demirel, decided to look to the bench and brought on Ghanaian international striker Christian Atsu to replace Ryan Abed. With Atsu's entrance, his team, which had accumulated 20 points and was striving to escape the relegation zone, pressed for a victory in the remaining minutes of the match. As the regular time came to an end, the referee awarded 7 minutes of stoppage time, allowing the Ghanaian star to score the only goal of the match in the final minute. Joy erupted in the stands among the team's fans, as their points tally increased to 23, moving them up to 14th place in the league table, away from relegation spots. However, unfortunate Atsu was unaware that this goal would lead to his demise in the earthquake that struck the south of the country just one day later, on February 6, among more than 39,000 people in Turkey.
At the last minute, Atsu was scheduled to travel from southern Turkey just hours before the devastating earthquake. Fatih Eylik, the director of Hatayspor, stated that the Ghanaian had chosen to stay with the club after scoring the winning goal in the super league match. Atsu wanted to play more and had asked his coach for permission to leave. The player purchased a ticket to travel to Istanbul, and from there, he planned to go to France, where he would look for another club that could provide him with more playing time. According to Eylik, Atsu was unhappy because he had played in only two league matches all season before the game against Kasımpaşa. He added, "There was great unity after the match. Coach Volkan Demirel embracing Atsu, and Atsu celebrating on the field, and later in the locker room, will remain in my eyes forever." He considered it "his fate. He had a ticket to leave, but because he scored, he changed his mind about leaving." He concluded by saying, "He was a victim of the earthquake on the happiest day of his life. This is a tragedy in the literal sense of the word."
On Saturday, the player’s agent announced that Christian Atsu’s body was found under the building where he lived after the devastating earthquake, confirmed by Murat Ouzun Muhammad, the player's agent.
The 31-year-old Ghanaian winger joined Hatayspor from the Saudi club Al Raed last September, where Taner Safat serves as the sporting director. Previously, Atsu spent 5 seasons at Newcastle from 2016 to 2021. Atsu scored the winning goal for his team in the 7th minute of stoppage time from a free kick against Kasımpaşa (1-0) in the Turkish league, just hours before the earthquake. His last international match was in September 2019, and he participated in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but missed the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar.
