Former Super Eagles midfielder Mikel Obi recently underwent surgery to address a hamstring injury he sustained during a novelty match. The 36-year-old, known for his distinguished career with Chelsea from 2006 to 2017 before moving on to clubs like Tianjin Teda, Middlesbrough, Trabzonspor, and Stoke City, revealed the reason behind his surgery on his ObiOne podcast.
Mikel explained that the injury occurred during an exhibition game with celebrities, where a lack of warm-up and proper stretching led to the incident. Reflecting on the painful moment, he described it as the most severe injury he had ever encountered, with the pain keeping him on the ground for nearly 20 minutes.
Following surgery, Mikel diligently engaged in physiotherapy to aid his recovery. Now fully healed, he has resumed his active lifestyle and continues to focus on his podcast and other endeavors.
“I tore my hamstring, I think it’s old age catching up with me,” Mikel said on his podcast.

“I was involved in an exhibition game with some celebrities. We woke up in the morning, didn’t warm up, didn’t stretch properly, then we woke up in the morning to go play dodgeball.

“I was just trying to run past the .ball, and I slipped. As soon as I fell, I just fell my hamstring tear. It was so painful, I was on the floor.

“It was the most painful injury I ever experienced because I’ve never torn my hamstring pretty bad before. The pain was 10/10, and it was so painful that I was on the floor for almost 20 minutes.”