Rio Ferdinand breaks silence on hospital dash - 'I thought it was lights out'

Rio Ferdinand thought he was going to DIE after being rushed to hospital with a nasty virus. The icon, confirming he would

Writing on , the Manchester United icon said: "Gutted to be missing the Semi-Finals this week on TNT Sports!! Wishing the team all the best — I’ll be watching every minute from the iPad!"

Ferdinand received plenty of well-wishes from fans and the 46-year-old has now revealed what was wrong with him, confirming he was blighted by a nasty virus that even led to him thinking he would never recover.

Speaking on , he said: "I had a mad virus. I thought lights were out at some point, I thought it was gonna happen. I thought I was minutes away from lights out, seriously. I was in my house, I was in my bed like this [pained expression] and I couldn't even open my eyes.

"Then, the headache I had… I don't get migraines or nothing else so I don't know what they're like. I thought my head was in a vice and my eyes were going to pop out.

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"Then, I was being sick, projectile vomiting in the toilet, I got back to bed and I was having vertigo. I was holding onto the sheets, I didn't know where I was. It was crazy."

He added: "I had to go to hospital and the doctor even said to me, "Do you want an ambulance"? So that's when I knew. He went, 'We're going to get your brain scanned'. I thought it was a virus or a flu or something so when he mentioned brain scan and the ambulance, the panic was nuts.

"I went to hospital and I was in there for a few days. I couldn't even enjoy the hospital food. The soup and the ice cream normally does wonders."

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Ferdinand now appears to be back to top form having returned to his self-named podcast. He also looks likely to return to punditry duty sooner rather than later, with his former side Manchester United set to take on rivals in the later this month.

Even during his off-screen time, Ferdinand still offered his take on the weekend's Premier League action. He publicly slammed fans for their boos targeted at during Sunday's draw with .

"I can’t believe @LFC fans booing one of their own. I understand that some of you guys are not happy with his decision etc BUT to boo @TrentAA after he has won the lot with you is baffling! Didn’t cost you a penny."

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