Fabrice Muamba says Christian Eriksen collapse ‘brought back emotions I never wanted to relive’

‘To watch it from that distance and not knowing what was going to happen - it’s scary’

Fabrice Muamba has told how watching Christian Eriksen's collapse brought back painful memories of his cardiac arrest during a football match nine years ago.

The former Bolton Wanderers midfielder came close to death when his heart stopped beating for 78 minutes during an FA Cup quarter final against Tottenham Hotspur in March 2012.

Although he hoped to return to play for the club, he retired from professional football five months later on medical advice.

Muamba said that it was "scary" to watch Eriksen's collapse during the Euro 2020 match between Denmark and Finland.

As the incident unfolded he tweeted the short message: "Please God".

He told BBC News that the "first five or six minutes, God, I'm telling you man, it is horrible."

"It brought back stuff that I have put down in me, the emotions I have just had deep down in there and never wanted to relive it again," Muamba added.

"To watch it from that distance and not knowing what was going to happen - it's scary."

Eriksen was treated on the pitch and appeared to be awake as he was taken away on a stretcher to hospital.

It was later confirmed that his condition had stabilised and both teams agreed to resume the match.

Additional reporting by Press Association