Former Man Utd player almost died from lack of oxygen on a plane going to the Africa Cup

This weekend will begin the Africa Cup of Nations, the tournament that brings together the best teams of the continent. This time the hosts will be Ivory Coast, the start date will be Saturday, January 13 and the final will be played on Sunday, February 11. Some of the world's top soccer stars will be present, such as Egypt's Mohamed Salah, Nigeria's Victor Osimhen, Senegal's Sadio Mane and Cameroon's Andre Onana.

However, the start of the tournament came close to turning into a tragedy for an unexpected reason. The Gambian team, one of the 24 participants, were scheduled to travel from Saudi Arabia (where they had been training for the past few days) to their country, and from there fly to Côte d'Ivoire.

The first part of the plan went perfectly, but problems began when they were due to travel to their final destination. Saidy Janko, a former Manchester United player between 2014 and 2015 and one of the squad's stars, recounted what happened through a video on Instagram. "As soon as we entered the small plane that was hired to fly us, we noticed the immense heat that left us dripping in sweat. It was assured to us by the crew that the air conditioning would start once we are in the sky," the defender began explaining.

He then continued: "The inhumane heat mixed with the occurring lack of oxygen left many people with strong headaches and extreme dizziness. Furthermore, people started falling deeply asleep minutes after entering the aircraft/takeoff. Whilst in the air, the situation got worse, leaving the pilot with no other option than initiating an emergency landing back in Banjul airport nine minutes after takeoff. If it wasn't for this, the consequences could have been a lot worse".

Now they have to think about soccer

After this unpleasant situation, the Gambian national team are looking for a way to get to Côte d'Ivoire to prepare for their debut, which will be on Monday against Senegal. The other two opponents in group C are Cameroon and Guinea.