Manchester United midfielder Anderson survives horror crash
Manchester United’s Brazilian midfielder, Anderson, was fortunate to escape unscathed after he was pulled from a burning car following a crash in Portugal at the weekend.
The 22-year-old was reportedly lifeless when pulled out of the £125,000 Audi R8, which exploded shortly afterwards, and then spent several hours in a Braga hospital to recover.
It’s unclear at this stage whether Anderson was driving the car - another man and a woman were in the vehicle when it crashed and were also fortunate to escape relatively unharmed.
It was also reported that the midfielder, who is currently recovering from a serious knee injury, spent the entire night at a nightclub - with the crash itself occurring at 7am on Sunday morning. The car is thought to have hit a wall of a farm, before flying into a nearby field.
The Brazil international was understandably shaken by the incident, which left him with minor concussion and whiplash, and is now due back in Manchester to continue his recovery from cruciate ligament damage in his left knee sustained back in February.
At this stage, Manchester United haven’t commented on the issue, and neither has manager Sir Alex Ferguson. However, the Red Devils’ boss is expected to take a dim view of Anderson’s decision to spend the night out partying; and indeed, it’s his party lifestyle which could lead to Ferguson losing patience.
However, the Premier League club paid out £18million for his services in 2007, and although he may not have played as much as he would have liked over the past three seasons, the talent is indisputable.
In January, it was rumoured that Anderson would be loaned out to Ligue 1 outfit Lyon, after flying back to Brazil without Ferguson’s permission. This led to the club fining the midfielder £80,000 for going AWOL, but a move to France never materialised, and the midfielder fought himself back into contention at Old Trafford.
Just when he returned to first-team action against West Ham in February, though, Anderson lasted just 20 minutes before suffering the injury which kept him out of the 2010 World Cup finals.
In order to salvage his career at Manchester United, Anderson will need to curb his flamboyant lifestyle.
This latest incident may just have been the wake-up call the 22-year-old needed.
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