John Pantsil thought his Europa League dreams were over - now, after defying the odds twice, the Fulham defender is 90 minutes away from a winner’s medal.
The Ghanaian feared missing the rest of the season and this summer’s World Cup after suffering a nasty knee injury in the derby defeat to Chelsea in December.
But the former West Ham full back made a miraculous recovery and returned to action four months later.
Then, after missing the first leg of the semi-final in Hamburg, he was given a second chance in the return leg at Craven Cottage seven days later because of an administration error.
Now he is hellbent on going all the way against Atlético Madrid on Wednesday.
[media id=47]
He revealed: "I was worried I might miss the rest of the season, but even when I did recover, I thought I wasn’t going to be able to play in Europe.
"Everyone thought they had taken me off the squad list because of my injury, so I missed the first leg in Hamburg. But, fortunately, they forgot to take me off, so it’s fate."
Pantsil is a firm favourite with the Craven Cottage faithful, with his customary lap of honour at home games if they win.
But the 28-year-old admits he doesn’t know what he’ll do if they cause another upset in five days’ time.
"The semi-final was a special day," he added.
"I did two laps because the fans deserve it - time will tell how many I do if we win!"