Fabrice Muamba: Bafetimbi Gomis collapse "very difficult" to take in

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 06 March 2015

Fabrice Muamba talks of his struggles as he heard news of Bafetimbi Gomis collapsing at White Hart Lane earlier this week - the venue where he suffered a cardiac arrest.

Fabrice Muamba has admitted that hearing news of Bafetimbi Gomis's collapse at White Hart Lane evoked bad memories of the day he clinically died on the same field.

The Englishman suffered a cardiac arrest during an FA Cup quarter-final meeting between Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur in 2012, falling to the ground with nobody around him.

Muamba's heart stopped for 78 minutes before he was revived by medics, although he was forced into retirement soon after due to medical advice.

Swansea City striker Gomis went to ground at the same North London venue earlier this week, and Muamba, now studying at university, says that he found it "very difficult" to take in.

"I was busy trying to concentrate on my uni work - that takes priority nowadays - but I heard about Gomis through social media," the former Arsenal midfielder told The Express.

"You are not sure of the full details but you can put two and two together and then it came out that he collapsed when no-one was around him and, when I saw that it was White Hart Lane, I thought, 'Oh no, not that place again'.

"I tried to put all that to one side and just carry on with my work but it was very difficult. But he would have been in excellent hands with the medics, who would have done an excellent job of looking after him."

Gomis had suffered a vasovagal attack, although he later assured fans that he was "feeling well" following the incident.