West Ham star Michail Antonio feared for his life after horror car crash

West Ham star Michail Antonio has revealed that he feared he wouldn’t live to see his children grow up after a terrifying car crash last year that left him with a broken leg.

Antonio was fortunate to survive the crash, which saw his Ferrari collide with a tree in December. Shocking images of the wrecked car showed the front completely crumpled, with the window shattered.

The 34-year-old was hospitalised for over three weeks, recovering from the incident. He faces a long road to recovery, having fractured his femur in four places.

Reflecting on the incident, Michail Antonio admitted that he came close to losing his life.

Recalling the moment he revisited the crash site and saw the damaged state of his car, he realised how narrowly he escaped death – and how close he came to being taken away from his four children.

“The most difficult part is that I almost wasn’t there for my children,” Antonio told the BBC. “It’s just made me happy, positive about life, because I’ve got another chance at life.

“During this, we kept it away from the kids. My eldest saw it, and he struggled with it. He’s 13, and obviously people were showing photos of the car. So he came down and saw me in the hospital.

“But the younger ones, they never really knew how bad the situation was. We kind of avoided letting them get on the internet.”

Antonio also cleared up rumours circulating on social media suggesting that he had been drinking or using drugs.

He added: “I was travelling back from training and, anyway, I’ve never taken drugs in my life. I’ve said I like a drink. But in this situation, there were no drugs, there was no drink.

“That’s been ruled out and confirmed by the police.”