Aston Villa had a big night in the Europa Conference League on Thursday but the day didn’t all go to plan for Jhon Duran as the forward was involved in a car crash just hours before kick-off.
Villa take a 2-1 lead against Lille back to France, knowing that a draw will see them through to the semi-finals of the competition.
Duran made an appearance in the match after replacing Ollie Watkins with eight minutes to go and just hours before that, the 20-year-old crashed his £73,000 BMW X6 in Birmingham, reports the Daily Mail.
Photos posted on social media showed Duran using his phone next to the crash site and the footballer looked unharmed, but this was not ideal preparation for a match later that day.
“We were called to Holloway Head, Birmingham at around 11.20am today (April 11) to reports of a collision involving a car and a van,” a West Midlands Police spokesperson said via the Mail. “No injuries were reported.”
It is uncertain what caused the crash but the Villa fans would have been pleased that no one involved was hurt.
Should Jhon Duran have played for Aston Villa?
Following the news of this incident, it was a surprise that Unai Emery featured the forward in Aston Villa’s match with Lille.
A car crash is a shock for people no matter how small it is and it certainly would have affected the Colombian heading into the match.
Nothing will be made of it as Villa were victorious on the night but if they weren’t questions might have been asked. It was certainly a risk for the Spanish coach but he knows his players better than anyone and the main thing from the day was that Duran emerged from the crash healthy.