Emiliano Sala's dog appeared to be waiting outside the funeral to say a final goodbye to the Cardiff City footballer on Saturday.

Thousands of mourners attended the service in the 28-year-old's home town of Progreso in Argentina, with Bluebirds manager Neil Warnock among them.

And those attending saw black labrador Nala outside the service as people went inside to pay their respects to the forward.

Sala's plane disappeared over the English Channel last month as he made his was from Nantes to Cardiff, who he had just transferred to in a club record £15million deal.

One of the reasons Sala had returned to France was understood to have been to begin the process of moving Nala from kennels in France to the Welsh capital, where the 28-year-old was going to begin his Premier League career.

Nala was spotted outside the service

He got Nala shortly after his move to Nantes in 2015, and regularly shared snaps of the pair of them on social media.

Following his disappearance and before his body was found, Sala's sister Romina shared a Instagram photo of Nala patiently waiting for the forward to return.

Sala's sister Romina shared this image of Nala waiting for the footballer to return

Romina has confirmed that she will care for Nala now.

"Nala, your faithful companionship is now ours," she shared on Instagram.

"We never thought of giving her up for adoption. I will clarify this to ensure people are aware."

The body of pilot David Ibbotson has still not been found.