Former Liverpool and Scotland defender Dominic Matteo has undergone successful brain surgery after he was rushed to hospital due to falling ill.

The 45-year-old had surgery at Leeds General Hospital and over the past week has been recovering well.

His close friend and radio presenter Simon Ross tweeted updating fans on Matteo’s recovery, saying “Just had a FaceTime call from him, he was on incredible form, chatting, talking football, joking and very positive and immensely great full to all the hospital staff at the LGI, amazing recovery.”

His former clubs Liverpool and Leeds United also offered their support towards their former player, and Leeds also issued a twitter post regarding Matteo’s condition.

His national team Scotland also wished him well on social media.

The defender started his career at Liverpool and went on make 127 appearances during his 8 year stint at the Merseyside club.

He went on to play for the likes of Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City, as well as making a single appearance for Sunderland during a loan period in 1995.

Matteo played a total of 276 games in the Premier League, scoring three goals.

He also earned six caps for the Scotland national team between 2000 and 2002.

[Photo by Sue Adair under Creative Commons licence]