Michael Essien had a fiery start to the launch of his anti-racism single, Skin, at Madame JoJo’s last week.

The Chelsea midfielder had to be rescued by firefighters after he became trapped in his palatial Surrey home.

A power cut struck the area in the early evening, meaning that his large electric security gates were jammed shut, stopping Michael from going anywhere.

After trying every possible way out, an extremely embarrassed Michael called 999, and a fire crew rushed out to open up his gates so that he could drive to Soho.

“It was terrible, there was a power cut for about two hours,” he said.

“The fire brigade came because I had to be here tonight.”

Michael managed to make it to the event only an hour and a half late. He then took to the stage with the band Wills and the Willing to pose for photos.

But fans weren’t treated to any of his singing. Nor were they treated to an appearance from the other Chelsea star on the single, Didier Drogba.

Michael later took a group of friends, including Salomon Kalou and Frank Lampard, to the after party, but the boys were on their best behaviour, despite bottle after bottle of Dom Perignon coming their way for their non-footballing pals, the players had soft drinks.