Brighton star Julio Enciso says he ‘almost died’ after fainting on his flight to Ecuador with a fellow passenger coming to his rescue.

Enciso, 20, was travelling from the UK back to South America to link up with the Paraguay national team squad for games against Ecuador and Venezuela during the international break.

Paraguay take on Ecuador in Quito on Thursday with Enciso revealing he was ‘powerless’ after collapsing on board the plane.

‘I have a headache. I almost died, I fainted on the plane,’ Enciso said as he attempted to laugh off the incident, Del Paraguay report  

‘I was weak, I didn’t eat or sleep well. At one point I got up to go to the bathroom and I felt like I was falling.’

Enciso revealed another passenger came to his assistance, offering him ‘Coca Cola and Japanese soup’ to help him get his bearings back.

‘A guy grabbed me and took me to the front, made me drink coke and a Japanese soup and that did me good,’ he said.

The forward left his homeland to join Brighton for a fee of £9.5million in the summer of 2022, emerging as one of the Premier League’s bright young talents under Roberto de Zerbi.

In his first campaign in England, Enciso scored the goal of the season with his stunning long range effort against Manchester City.

He spent most of the 2023-24 season on the sidelines after suffering a serious knee injury, picking up another knock in the summer while representing Paraguay at the Paris Olympics.

Under new Brighton boss Fabian Hürzeler, Enciso is still to start a Premier League game this season, coming off the bench in five of their seven league outings while starting in Carabao Cup wins over Crawley Town and Wolves.

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