Christian Benitez reflects on the car crash that overshadowed his early Birmingham City

Feb 8 2010 by Andy Walker, Sunday Mercury

CHRISTIAN Benitez has spoken for the first time about the transatlantic dash to be by his seriously-injured father’s bedside earlier this season.

The Blues striker has settled into his new West Midlands surroundings and the club will make a decision on whether to make his loan permanent in May.

However, while he’s now a key component of an in-form Premier League side, his first few months at Blues weren’t plain sailing.

While he struggled to get used to a new culture and regain match fitness after a summer shoulder operation, the Ecuadorian was hit with a bombshell from back home less then three months into his Blues career.

Benitez’s father, Ermen, a retired Ecuador international footballer, was involved in a major car accident at the end of September and his son was handed compassionate leave to fly back to South America to be by his bedside.

Fortunately Benitez Snr made a full recovery, but the Blues striker believes that was only due to his father’s background as a professional athlete.

“Thanks to God, my father is very well,” said the man known by Bluenoses as ‘Chucho’.

“When he had his accident I had to go and see him. He’s fine now, as are all of my family members.

“It’s always a worry when something like that happens to your family and I was very worried at the time that it happened.

“But thank God that it wasn’t particularly serious and everything has passed now.

“He wasn’t too bad because with him being a footballer himself he had a very strong heart. Even though he has retired from the game, he’s still a very strong man.