Sadly, it would appear that Andre Villas-Boas’ lifelong dream to complete the Dakar Rally is over after the former Chelsea and Tottenham manager was forced to pull out at the fourth stage of the race.
Villas-Boas was forced to go to hospital with a back injury after his Toyota Hilux collided with a sand dune on Wednesday morning.
According to the Mirror, Villas-Boas’ injuries aren’t thought to be serious but they are bad enough to cut short his participation out in Peru.
Talking to the press, Overdrive team director Jean-Marc Fortin said:
Andre was taken to the hospital with a back injury.
It was unfortunate for Andre, who was making a very positive debut in the Dakar.
The 40-year-old first-timer, who quit as head coach of Shanghai SIPG specifically to take part, was hovering in a perfectly respectable 45th place when the crash brought a premature end to his involvement in the gruelling 15-day rally.
Whether Overdrive are now looking to bring in Tim Sherwood on an interim basis remains to be seen.