I hope he meets the medics who saved his life. That was the best thing for me

SATURDAy afternoon was traumatic for Fabrice Muamba. ‘There is this certain emotion you have in you and it is one which I never wanted to feel again. This brought that back.’

Muamba is speaking hours after the collapse of Christian Eriksen, 29. ‘To see it happen to somebody else... I was in disbelief,’ says Muamba. ‘I started to say, “No way, this is not happening to him”. It was a terrible situation.

‘The first thing that came to mind was his partner and children. I started thinking, “This can’t be the last time they see him”.

‘It’s an awful place. Awful. There is a long road ahead to recovery. I’m sure in due time we’ll be able to see each other face to face and have a proper session.

‘I’m just happy to hear he’s awake and that progress has been made. It’s not easy.’

It March 17, 2012, when Muamba collapsed on the pitch at White Hart Lane (right) during an FA Cup quarter- final between Tottenham and Bolton.

His then-fiancee, now wife, Shauna, was watching from her home in Cheshire with their three-year-old son Joshua.

Muamba was technically dead for 78 minutes. It took 15 defibrillation shocks to bring him back to life. That game was abandoned by referee Howard Webb and Shauna raced to London. It turned out to be his final professional appearance.

‘The No 1 priority is his health and his family,’ says Muamba, who could not hold back the tears after witnessing the Inter Milan star’s collapse.

Eriksen’s partner Sabrina Kvist Jensen was in the Parken Stadium and TV pictures showed her being consoled by Denmark captain Simon Kjaer and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.

‘People focus on the person on the floor,’ Muamba, now 33, says, ‘but forget about the one who will be beside Christian every single time, and that’s his partner. She needs support, too. He’ll be very appreciative of his medical staff and I really hope he gets to meet them. It was one of the best things for me to meet the people who saved my life. ‘ The pressure of making sure they get it right is unbelievable,’ Muamba adds. ‘It’s on TV and the whole continent is watching. They deserve so much credit. ‘ It’s so important having the right medical care available for players, regardless of what level you’re playing at. It can happen to anybody, anywhere.’

The image of Eriksen’s teammates creating a barrier around him as he lay on the ground was a powerful one.

‘I really liked that,’ Muamba says. ‘His team-mates gathered around so that people didn’t get to see what could have been the last images of him. A lot of people can be frightened seeing somebody in that position, so his team- mates gathered around and made sure the medical team could do the work they had to do.

‘The referee, Anthony Taylor, did a great job to stop the game. He managed to settle everything down.’