Darkness had fallen when Christian Atsu fired home a free-kick in the 97th minute, handing Hatayspor victory over Kasimpasa to move them out of the Turkish Super Lig drop zone in early 2023. Within seconds, the final whistle blew and team-mates leapt on Atsu in joy.
Little more than 10 hours later, the giant earthquake struck. By then, the Ghanaianhome on the outskirts of Antakya, a city of 400,000 people in Hatay province in the south of Turkey – the Mediterranean Sea a few miles to the west, the Syrian border a few miles to the east.
