Rio Ferdinand offers health update after staying in hospital with 'mad virus'

has elaborated on the health scare that left him fearing he would die. The icon was hospitalised by a 'mad' virus last week.

Ferdinand was initially expected to be part of TNT Sport's coverage of United's Europa League semi-final second-leg clash with Athletic Bilbao last Thursday. However, in a picture shared on social media, the 46-year-old . He was subsequently discharged and was back in action for coverage of Aston Villa's victory over Fulham on Saturday.

Expanding on the full extent of his hospital visit, Ferdinand has revealed that he suffered from severe flu that left him scared he would die. Speaking on his podcast, he initially joked: "My wife, the women in my family, will never know... man flu. That's what it's really about, man flu."

However, the former England defender went on to detail a scary ordeal. "I had a mad virus, bro. I thought lights were out at some point, I thought it was gonna happen. I thought I was minutes away from lights out, seriously," he said.

"I was in my house, I was in my bed like this [pained expression] and I couldn't even open my eyes. Then, the headache I had... I don't get migraines or nothing else so I don't know what they're like. I thought my head was in a vice and my eyes were going to pop out.

"Then, I was being sick, projectile vomiting in the toilet, I got back to bed and I was having vertigo. I was holding onto the sheets, I didn't know where I was. It was crazy. I had to go to hospital and the doctor even said to me, "Do you want an ambulance", so that's when I knew.

"He went, 'We're going to get your brain scanned. I thought it was a virus or a flu or something so when he mentioned brain scan and the ambulance, the panic was nuts. I went to hospital and I was in there for a few days. I couldn't even enjoy the hospital food. The soup and the ice cream normally does wonders."

Ferdinand subsequently missed United's 4-1 victory over Athletic. Mason Mount's double and goals from Casemiro and Rasmus Hojlund sent the Red Devils into the Europa League final. Ruben Amorim's side will face Tottenham in the final on May 21.