Rio Ferdinand has shockingly revealed England players thought they were going to crash on the flight home from the 2006 World Cup.
Sven Goran-Eriksson's side were beaten by Portugal in the quarter finals in Germany and Ferdinand, for the first time, has recalled how the 'Golden Generation' endured an utterly terrifying flight.
The turbulence was so terrifying that players, including the likes of Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard, were in tears and feared the absolute worst.
Ferdinand himself lost his calmness when he saw the look on the faces of his teammates, as well as the air stewardesses on the private jet.
"We’d just been knocked out of the competition by Portugal in the quarter finals and we had the worst flight back you can imagine," Ferdinand recounted.
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"We got caught up in some terrible weather and everybody thought we were going to crash. We were all crying.
“I was sat near Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard and their wives and everyone was screaming. It was turbulence on another level.
"It was mental and people and luggage were all over the place and no one knew what was going on.
“I definitely thought, ‘This is it,’ especially when I looked at the air stewardesses. You can always gauge how serious things are by their expressions and I looked at them and they were all sat down in their seats stony faced and clearly thinking, ‘F***, we’re in trouble.’
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“I’m usually quite calm but then I looked at them and I was properly scared.”
Featured Image Credit: Image: PATopics: Rio Ferdinand, England, Football World Cup