Assou-Ekotto: Muamba collapse ´surreal´

Tottenham full-back Benoit Assou-Ekotto has spoken of his fear at witnessing Fabrice Muamba suffer a heart attack on the pitch.

Bolton’s Muamba remains in critical condition in a London hospital after collapsing during his team’s FA Cup quarter-final with Spurs at White Hart Lane on Saturday.

Assou-Ekotto was close to Muamba when he fell and said the whole ordeal has left a mark on him, reminding of him of former Cameroonian international Marc-Vivien Foe, who passed away in 1993 after collapsing on the pitch.

“When I saw him lying on the pitch at White Hart Lane, I was scared,” the Cameroonian told The Evening Standard.

“Scared for him, scared for his family, his friends and all those people who know him and who care about him.”

“I was also scared because he was just like me. He is young, supposedly fit – an athlete – who a few seconds ago was running up and down the same pitch as me.”

“I had flashbacks of what had happened to my countryman, the late Marc-Vivien Foe.”

“You want to stop these thoughts but the pictures keep coming into your head and I must say I was scared.”

“Scared as I wondered how it could all just end like that for a young man? I could see the same questions in the eyes of my team-mates, the Bolton players, our bosses and their colleagues.”

“And I learnt a new word as I tried to make sense of it late on Saturday: surreal.”

Spurs’ playmaker Rafael van der Vaart said the incident was harrowing and he was seen praying on the pitch as paramedics rushed to Muamba’s aid.

“It’s almost incomprehensible what has happened,” he told Spurs’ official website.

“(It was) simply horrifying to see such a young player on the ground struggling for his life.”

“I was standing about 10 metres from him but I didn’t see him fall. It happened behind my back, but when I turned I immediately knew things weren’t good.”

“At that time all players on the field felt the panic as well. It was horrible to witness, it’s the absolute low in my football career.”