![](\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article31029432.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_Cardiff-City-v-Middlesbrough-npower-Championship.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFormer Sunderland and Middlesbrough midfielder Julio Arca revealed the time he was hospitalised by a jellyfish sting after Mick McCarthy made his Black Cats squad get in the sea.<\/p>\n
Argentina youth international Arca is a footballing hero throughout most of the North-East after playing for Sunderland and Middlesbrough in the Premier League and later finishing his career at South Shields, who he currently manages in the National League North.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the Under The Cosh podcast, Arca revealed the time under McCarthy at Sunderland when he asked his team-mates to pee on him after a swim in the sea had gone terribly wrong for the midfielder. <\/p>\n
READ MORE: Neymar slams claims he 'wants Al-Hilal manager sacked' as 'lies' and 'fake news' <\/b><\/p>\n
READ MORE: Football chairman brutally murdered close to stadium after his team had lost <\/b><\/p>\n
Arca said: \u201cSo we went on pre-season to America with Sunderland and at that time there was a lot going on with the ice bath, a lot of people were using ice baths for recovery. So after a couple of weeks we came back and in our training ground we didn\u2019t have 10-15 ice baths like we had in America.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the manager decided to take everyone to the sea, obviously being in the sea is like having an ice bath, the water is pretty cold. So I was thinking \u2018ok, we\u2019re just going to go for a run, stretch, stuff like that,\u2019 just for a change.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s your favourite Julio Arca moment? Let us know in the comments section.<\/i> <\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Mick asked us \u2018we\u2019re just going to get in the water,\u2019 so I was thinking \u2018okay, cloudy, windy, cold.\u2019 So we go in the water and I remember seeing Mick swimming around us like he was in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw him swimming and getting deeper, then he asked everyone to more or less get deeper and swim in the sea and I remember almost walking to where he was and I saw this black stuff in the water. I kind of put my arm in to see what it was and when I pulled my arm out, I had these legs all over me, my chest, my arm, part of my legs \u2013 obviously it was a massive jellyfish, it looked like an octopus to be honest.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I went from being cold to being really hot, my skin was burning, burning badly, so I didn\u2019t want to come out of the water but I\u2019d been told when that happens someone should pee on you basically. The first thing that crossed my mind I asked one of the lads to try was to do me (pee on him) there, outside.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article31029437.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_West-Ham-United-v-Sunderland.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember coming out of the water, I was in pain, I wasn\u2019t feeling well, and I asked probably two or three of the lads and they said \u2018no, let\u2019s just go back to the training ground.\u2019 And I said \u2018no, you need to do it now because the sooner you do it the better,\u2019 and no one wanted to p*** on me.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe ended up going back to the training ground, so I got there, put some ice on me, I tried to feel this heat on my skin a bit less and then I remember some of the lads p*** in a pot. And I went in the bath and they just dropped this pot of pee on me in the bath and honest the stings, I try to remember, it wasn\u2019t pretty.\u201d<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i2-prod.dailystar.co.uk\/incoming\/article31029436.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615b\/0_South-Shields-v-Cleethorpes-Town-The-Buildbase-FA-Vase-Final.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Arca revealed that after he had been dosed in pee, he still didn\u2019t feel better and an ambulance had to be called. He continued: \u201cI went from being all funny and people laughing around and then I could not feel my legs and then my throat was more or less closing down, I couldn\u2019t breathe properly.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s when everyone starting getting concerned and they got an ambulance and I spent one night in intensive care, (I was on) morphine and stuff like that.\u201d Arca concluded: \u201cIt was funny for them (his team-mates) but not for me.\u201d<\/p>\n