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JOHN OBI MIKEL has revealed the terrifying moment he found out his dad had been kidnapped — for the second time.
He said he received the news moments before his country’s most important World Cup match.
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The ex-Chelsea and Nigeria star admitted he was left “blanking out” on the pitch during the huge clash against Argentina in St Petersburg, Russia in 2018 as he secretly dealt with the horrifying news.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast with Gary Lineker, the former midfielder opened up about the trauma of both kidnappings, revealing he didn’t even tell his manager about the second one.
Mikel, now retired, explained the first incident happened when he was playing for Chelsea under boss Andre Villas-Boas.
He said: “My dad has his own business now which I helped him set up, and he was driving home from work with his driver.
“A car pulled over in front of them with guns and everything — they got out and took him away.”
“I remember AVB asked me, ‘Do you want to play the game or not?.
“I was finally back in the team, I was playing well — so I told him I’d think about it.
“In the end I decided to play but the whole family was crying on the phone.”
Mikel said the negotiations felt “like buying a car,” with back-and-forth demands until they agreed on a fee.
He added: “I got on the phone with the kidnappers after. It was horrible, my dad was screaming, telling me, ‘Whatever they want, just give it to them.”
“I wired the money back home, my brother withdrew it and they were told where to drop it off. They said come back in 30 minutes.”
The second kidnapping came when dad Michael was snatched before Nigeria’s World Cup match against Argentina.
He said: “I was in my room getting ready for the game (World Cup). My phone kept ringing and eventually, I picked up.
“My brother said, ‘We weren’t going to tell you, but we have to, it’s happened again. Dad has been kidnapped.”
Mikel revealed he was torn on whether to tell anyone, adding: “I sat there for 30 minutes thinking, ‘Should I tell the coach? Should I tell the team?’
“In the end, I decided not to. I went out and played.”
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“I nearly threw up on the pitch. I couldn’t focus.
“All I kept thinking was, ‘How am I going to get my dad out of this again?.
“At some point, I blanked out I wasn’t even seeing what was going on.”
Despite everything, Mikel played the full match keeping the situation completely to himself.
Nigeria lost narrowly 2-1, with Lionel Messi on the scoresheet for Argentina.
That result, in Nigeria’s final group game, saw the South Americans leapfrog them into second place and into the last-16.
Michael was eventually released but the son Mikel admits the trauma of those moments still haunts him today.
