In April 1996, Christian Panucci won the Scudetto with AC Milan under coach Fabio Capello. It was Capello's fourth title in five seasons. That summer he left for Real Madrid.
Weeks later, Panucci was on his way to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, but was ruled out of the squad due to a knee injury. On his way home to Milan he was booked on TWA Flight 800 from New York to Paris on the 17th of July 1996, with a connecting flight to Rome. After discovering his luggage from Atlanta had gone missing, Alitalia staff at the airport offered him a direct flight to Milan, departing later that day from Newark. He took it. Shortly after 8pm, TWA Flight 800 took off without him and exploded 46 minutes into its journey, crashing into the sea off Long Island and killing all 230 people on board.
"It's a miracle," Panucci said after learning what had happened. "I should have been on that plane." This remarkable twist of fate earned him the nickname "the man who lived twice".
Six months later, in January 1997, Panucci followed Capello to Madrid, becoming the first Italian footballer in Real Madrid's history.