A Brazillian volleyball star has claimed she and Emiliano Sala were in a secret relationship before his tragic plane crash.

Luiza Ungerer, 31, who plays for French side Beziers Angels, said she met the Emiliano Sala, 28, when they both played in France. They began a relationship, according to her, but didn't go public.

She said she last saw him on her birthday on January 14, just a week before the plane he was in disappeared near UK's Channel Island.

Luiza, a native of Rio de Janeiro who has been in France for eight years, says she and the dead striker started exchanging messages on social media in September 2017.

She added that it was his "dream" to play in the Premier League. She said he was "very happy" having signed for Cardiff from Nantes for a record £15million fee and couldn’t wait to play in the "best competition in the world"

Luiza added that she spoke to Sala on the day his plane went missing but she refused to reveal what they discussed.

After hearing the heartbreaking news that his body had been found, she wrote online:
"Like you always said to me: ‘Thank you for being how you are.’ I’m going to love you forever!
She told Brazilian news outlet Globo:
"He said that he had gone to see Cardiff and that the deal was closed, he was going to play there.

It made me really glad because he was very happy. It was his dream, to play in the Premier League, the best competition in the world.
She added:
"What I wanted was for him to come back. There are lots of people asking me horrible things about the accident. It’s really difficult.

In the street, everybody recognised him, they came to speak to him and take a photo with him. I used to say: ‘Who the hell told you to score so many goals?’

It was surprising for him because he’s a simple person and he didn’t understand it. He has a pure heart, he has no bad intentions, he was even naive at times.
Speaking about his disappearance, she said:
"I always had hope after his disappearance, because in those hours that’s what you have to have.

Until the moment they announced they had found a body, I had hope.

There was a lot of anguish, not knowing where the plane was, not knowing what was going to happen, with the searches which shouldn’t have stopped. It was all anguish.
She added:
"Now, I have to be happy for myself and for him. I’m going to try and live for myself and for him.

I’m going to try and be as happy as possible because that’s what he wants.