Friday 15 February 2019 10:56, UK
Watford striker Adalberto Penaranda has revealed he was once shot in his home country of Venezuela before moving to the Premier League.
Despite signing in 2016, Penaranda was only handed a work permit in November last year, making his debut in the FA Cup third-round win over Woking in January.
He has since been named on the bench in Watford's last two Premier League games, against Brighton and Everton respectively.
The 21-year-old was involved in the FA Cup fourth-round victory over Newcastle and is likely to feature again when the Hornets travel to Sky Bet Championship side QPR on Friday night as they battle for a spot in the quarter-finals.
"When I was 17 I got shot in the leg," Penaranda told Watford's official website.
"I was in a friend's house in Barrio with a few other football players and we were just chatting when these guys came in with weapons and just started shooting us.
"My friend was shot in the arm and I was shot in the leg. The bullet went through here [the inside of his left leg] and out here [the lower left side of his thigh]. It was a very painful moment.
"I was lucky it wasn't a big injury. I went to the hospital and there was a lot of blood. They cleaned the wound, I had anti-inflammatory tablets and bandages - no surgery. That was it. Fortunately, it didn't touch the muscle."
Penaranda has had two loan spells at Spanish side Granada, one before joining Watford and one after, but it was during his first stint in Spain when he broke Lionel Messi's record of becoming the youngest player to score twice in a La Liga game.
"We were losing 1-0 and I scored the equaliser and then the winning goal," he added. "The first goal was fantastic, I really liked it."
