John Obi Mikel: “My dad got kidnapped while I was playing for Nigeria at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.”

“We were about to play against Argentina. Two hours before the game I got a phone call from my brother saying my dad got kidnapped.”

“The first time he was kidnapped was shocking, but the second time was even more shocking because I was about to go into one of the biggest games of my life.”

“I couldn’t leave the room. I couldn’t tell anybody. I was alone in the room for about 30 minutes, thinking what am I going to do?"

“But we’re about to go into the biggest game of our lives. We’re about to play against Lionel Messi and Argentina.”

“Chelsea were very supportive. I remember Roman Abramovich saying ‘do you want me to send people over? Because I know if I send people over, I can get your dad out’ — I was like, how are you going to do this?”

“He said don’t worry about that. Just let me know if you want that option, I can do it.”

(@talkSPORT)