Tears for Papiss Cisse at Tuesday’s Cheick Tiote memorial service
Emotional scenes in Beijing, as a memorial service was held for Cheick Tiote.
Papiss Cisse was just one of many former teammates who attended the ceremony, along with officials and players from Beijing Enterprises FC.
Tuesday’s memorial service was held before the body of the former Newcastle star is flown back home to the Ivory Coast where a private funeral service will take place.
One-time Newcastle teammate Cisse was in tears as he led prayers for Cheick Tiote.
Tiote’s family and agent Emanuele Palladino were also in attendance today.
Fans also gathered outside where the memorial service was being held, keen to pay their respects to a player who tragically died at the age of only 30, after collapsing during a training session on Monday 5 June.
A memorial service for former #NUFC‘s Cheick Tiote has been held in Bejing with family, friends and teammates https://t.co/MdYEsejSOW pic.twitter.com/GBptQeEBpB
— BBC Newcastle (@bbcnewcastle) June 13, 2017
Former Newcastle striker Andy Cole has spoken about the tragic loss to BBC Radio 5 Live and has questioned how somebody so young and fit has been cut down in their prime:
“If someone is only 30 and they pass away, the question that is naturally going to be asked is Why? What’s gone on there? Why has he passed away so early?
“It is a strange one as Cheick Tiote hadn’t been in China that long, only a few months (since February), so he must have had a medical to complete the transfer.
“Was nothing picked up in the medical?
“Is anything actually being done? Is it being looked into?
“We need to nail it down and get to the bottom of why, and what it is, because it seems to be happening to more and more professional footballers , to fit, strong men.”
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