Shocked to my core by death of Diogo

IT COULD EASILY HAVE BEEN ME SAYS ANTONIO

- By Chris McKenna

MICHAIL ANTONIO was working on his recovery in the gym when he had to head home suddenly.

There was no point in trying to concentrate. The memories of his own car crash came flooding back and he felt it could have been him.

It was July 3 and the tragic news that Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva had been killed in a car crash in Spain had started to filter through.

“It shocked me to my core to be fair, I was in the gym doing some strength work on my leg at the time with one of my personal physios and he told me,” said the former West Ham striker.

“He’s like, ‘Have you seen it?’. I couldn’t really work out, I called it a day and went home.

“It shocked me, because it could easily have been me.”

Antonio, 35, lost control of his Ferrari last December and crashed into a tree. It took 45 minutes for responders to get to him and cut him out of the vehicle.

He was lucky to survive and the harrowing loss of Jota and his brother brought it all home to him.