A 14-YEAR-old Italian boy has emerged from a month-long coma and the first thing he wanted to know was whether Juventus were still in the Champions League.
The teenager, identified only as ‘Michael’, jumped off a bridge with five friends into water which was just 6.5-feet deep. His heart stopped beating while he was in the water and he was assumed dead.
It took 42 minutes for a team of people, including fire service divers, to form a human chain and drag him out of the water. His heart needed to be restarted with a defibrillator.
After spending four weeks in hospital in San Raffaele, he awoke and his top-priority was to find out from his parents whether his favourite football team, Juventus, were still in the Champions League.
His doctor, Alberto Zangrillo, told Italian media that the boy’s recovery was “the greatest satisfaction of my entire professional career” and explained that the cold water had helped save his life because it caused a slow down of his vital functions.
Juventus are the surprise package of this year’s tournament, knocking out Borussia Dortmund, Monaco and Real Madrid on their way to the final. Thankfully, ‘Michael’ will now be able watch his beloved team as the ‘Old Lady’ look to cause another upset by beating Barcelona in Berlin this weekend.