Why Sheffield United legend pounded city streets to head for Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough

The last time Sheffield United made the trip to Hillsborough it was they rather than city rivals Wednesday who came out with the win.

And Blades legend Phil Jagielka was hoping for a different kind of victory as he made the journey from Bramall Lane to the Owls’ home this week.

The former England international was taking part in the SkyBet EFL ‘Every Minute Matters’ relay which saw ‘Jags’ take a leisurely jog from S2 to S6 alongside some United staff.

The Sky Bet EFL Every Minute Matters Relay, which kicked off on March 25, is a 4,000-kilometrea 28-day journey that will feature 72 legs stopping off at each EFL club before culminating at Wembley on April 21.

The unique part of the project is that it’s not about raising money but raising awareness of the importance of learning CPR, working alongside the British Heart Foundation.

The Sky Bet EFL relay comes almost a year after the EFl sponsors teamed up with the British Heart Foundation to launch Every Minute Matters with the goal of encouraging an incredible 270,000 to learn CPR by the end of the 2024-2025 football season – equivalent to three Wembley Stadiums.

The campaign has smashed that target with almost two months to go and are setting a brave new ambition to reach 360,000 – four times the capacity of Wembley Stadium – by the 24/25 Sky Bet EFL play-offs in May.

“You just log onto the British Heart Foundation website and do the RevivR test, I’ve done it myself and you can educate yourself to potentially - which can be quite a scary proposition - save someone’s life, which you can’t do anything better than help someone who needs a lot of help. That’s an amazing thing to do,” said Jagielka ahead of his run.

“I think the nervousness and apprehension of what you need to do, I think you over-complicate it yourself in your head. But if you log onto the website and click the link you’ll realise it is quite simple.”

He added: “I’ve played in many games where the game has been stopped for five or 10 minutes when something’s gone on in the crowd and there’s been a few players obviously collapsed on the pitch or in training. You see it happen a little more often these days but again, the campaign is fantastic, it’s not asking you to pledge any money just asking you to educate yourself and give a little bit of time.

“As I said before, if you can be that person that poteantially saves someone’s life, it’s an amazing thing to do.”

To learn CPR in just 15 minutes, visit https://revivr.bhf.org.uk/efl