Ghanaian striker, Emmanuel Boateng has shared a very heartwarming story of how he slept and woke up with a knee injury.

Emmanuel Boateng became famous when he scored a hat-trick against one of the world’s top clubs, Barcelona in the Spanish La Liga. However, before the Ghanaian would rise up to fame, there was a point in his career he nearly gave up on being a player.

Boateng had earned a career breakthrough to play for Spanish side Rio Ave from his local club, Charity Stars, based in Accra, Ghana. For years, the budding Ghanaian player who grew up in Lapaz had waited patiently for this opportunity and just when the opportunity came knocking, something mysterious happened.

Days after signing the deal to play for his new club in Spain, Emmanuel Boateng says in an interview with Blagogee.com monitored by Ghanaweb that, he went to do his normal training routine, came home to rest, and woke up to the shock of his life.

Boateng said, “I think three days before flying, I had an injury which wasn’t normal as a player. I went to training, I came back and slept and woke up with my knee swelled. I couldn’t walk again.”

According to him, he thought his circumstance at that time marked the end of his promising football career.

“I thought that was the end because as a player, I felt really bad and that was my first injury in football,” the former Levante player said in the interview.

However, Boateng got a piece of good news when he “had a call from the club that I should come so they treat me over there.”

Reminiscing what was going on in his head when he got injured, the Black Stars player said, “I told my mom it’s over, but she was like no I shouldn’t say that.”

Since overcoming that setback, Boateng has gone on to play for three other clubs including, Dalian Professional, where he now plies his trade.