Sports magazine

LONDON - Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba believes what happened to him was ‘more than a miracle’ after making an astonishing recovery from a cardiac arrest.

Muamba’s heart stopped beating naturally for 78 minutes after he collapsed unconscious during Bolton’s FA Cup quarter-final at Tottenham on 17th March.

But the devout Christian, 24, stunned doctors with his recovery and was fit enough to walk out of hospital just a month after the ordeal.

In an interview with The Sun, Muamba revealed he asked God to protect him before the cup clash, which was abandoned after his collapse.

Muamba said: “Someone up there was watching over me. What happened to me was really more than a miracle.

“On the morning of the game I prayed with my father and asked God to protect me - and he didn’t let me down.

“I am walking proof of the power of prayer. For 78 minutes I was dead and even if I lived was expected to have suffered brain damage. “But I’m very much alive and sitting here talking now. Someone up there was watching over me.”

Odd feeling

Muamba revealed he was feeling “focused”, “sharp” and “particularly fit” in the lead up to the game.

But 41 minutes into the first half the player said he started to feel dizzy and began seeing double before collapsing to the turf.

“It wasn’t normal dizziness - it was a kind of surreal feeling like I was running along inside someone else’s body,” he said.

“I had no pain whatsoever. No clutching at my chest or tightness like you see when people have heart attacks in movies. Just an odd feeling that’s impossible to explain. “Then I started to see double. It was almost like a dream.”

Reliving the shocking moment his heart stopped in front of thousands of stunned fans, he added: “I just felt myself falling through the air and then felt two big thumps as my head hit the ground in front of me then that was it. Blackness, nothing. I was dead.”