Former Nottingham Forest man 'one millimetre' from severe injury in freak birthday cake accident

Former Nottingham Forest striker Karim Ansarifard says he came close to possibly suffering severe damage to one eye as the result of a freak accident.

The forward, who now plays for AEK Athens, was with the Iran national squad when early celebrations were held ahead of him turning 32 this weekend. He says a piece of wood inside a birthday cake was “one millimetre away” from potentially depriving him "the blessing of one eye". According to The Sun, some of his teammates are said to have “pelted” him with slices of the cake, without being aware of the danger.

Ansarifard was forced to miss Iran’s World Cup qualifier against Lebanon as a result. And he has posted a picture of his injury on Instagram.

In a translated post, he wrote: “Dear friends and compatriots, thank you for your concern and follow-up about the injury that was inflicted on my eye on the night of the match against Lebanon, in the national team camp. The piece of wood inside the birthday cake, one millimetre away, could easily have deprived me of the blessing of one eye.

“Thank God it went well. I sincerely thank the officials and the treatment staff of Razavi Hospital in Mashhad. Especially Dr. Soiltani and Dr. Kiaroudi, who completely eliminated the danger. Fortunately I do not have a vision problem and with full recovery, I will soon start training in Greece.”

Ansarifard struggled to make much of an impact during his short spell with the Reds from 2018 to 2019. He made 12 appearances and scored two goals after joining as a free agent, having left fellow Evangelos Marinakis-owned club Olympiacos.

He left the City Ground in the summer of 2019, making the switch to Al-Sailiya in Qatar. Following a spell there, he joined AEK Athens in 2020.