Bordeaux fans were left petrified and shaken after their winger Samuel Kalu collapsed on the pitch in their match against Marseille on Sunday evening.
The Nigerian was lining up in a defensive wall just outside of his side’s box in the fifth minute before he fell to the ground and the medical team raced to his aid.
In the same style that the Danish team gathered around Christian Eriksen at Euro 2020, players from both sides formed a circle around Kalu to prevent images of the Nigerian receiving treatment from being taken.
Outstandingly, Kalu quite literally walked away from the incident unscathed.
But controversially, the 23-year-old was actually allowed to continue playing by officials and he stayed on the pitch for a further eight minutes before Bordeaux boss Vladimir Petkovic saw sense and substituted him for Remi Oudin.
When the substitution was announced, fans of both teams rose from their seats to applaud Kalu’s effort to continue and possibly acknowledging that it was for the best to throw caution to the wind and watch the rest of the match from the sidelines.
The cause for Kalu’s collapse is not yet known but the matter is being investigated internally.
Should Kalu have been allowed to carry on playing? Let us know in the comments section.
However, this isn’t the first time that Kalu has collapsed whilst playing football and needed medical treatment.
Just one day before he was set to play for Nigeria in the Africa Cup of Nations 2019, the former Gent forward collapsed on the training pitch and was rushed to hospital.
It was later discovered that the reason for that breakdown was dehydration, which may have been the case over the weekend as the match was played in 25-degree heat.
The incident last night shocked the stadium and many feared the worst having seen Eriksen suffer a cardiac arrest whilst representing Denmark over the summer, with footage of the midfielder receiving CPR and his heart being restarted using a defibrillator being broadcasted all over the world.
Eriksen has since recovered from the incident after receiving heart surgery, though it is unsure whether he will be able to continue playing in the Serie A for Inter Milan.
The rules in Italy say that any professional that has an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, which Eriksen has, is not allowed to continue their career as an athlete.
The 29-year-old does want to make a return to football so if a decision is made that he can no longer play at the San Siro then it is likely he will leave Inter Milan.
According to Rome-based newspaper Corriere dello Sport, Eriksen’s former club Ajax are interested in re-signing the midfielder if his career in Italy comes to an end.
The former Spurs man played for the Eredivisie side for five years from 2008 to 2013, scoring 25 in 113 league appearances and helping them to three titles.
He then moved to Spurs for £12m and became an instant fan’s favourite, scoring and assisting regularly and helping the club to the 2018/19 Champions League final – where they lost 2-0 to Liverpool.
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