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Swansea City and Spurs stars have spoken of their shock and worry at witnessing Bafetimbi Gomis’s collapse, with one player admitting he feared he was reliving the nightmare of Fabrice Muamba’s fight for life on the same White Hart Lane pitch.

The watching world held its breath when Gomis was seen crumpled in a heap just moments after Tottenham had opened the scoring in their 3-2 win over the Swans in North London.

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino screamed at paramedics in alarm and medical staff from both sides rushed onto the field as the French striker appeared to lie unconscious with some players appearing too distressed to watch as he received rapid attention.

An eery hush fell over the ground where, almost three years to the day, Bolton midfielder Muamba collapsed suffering a cardiac arrest, having to receive defibrillator shocks as his heart stopped for 78 minutes.

Muamba recovered after specialist care in hospital, although he would never play again, but the upsetting scenes hit players and fans hard – with Spurs goalkeeper Brad Friedel admitting he feared the worst.

Word did quickly spread that Gomis had blacked out as part of a past history of fainting due to a nervous system condition and was seen signalling he was OK as he left the field on a stretcher following oxygen treatment.

But Friedel, sat on the bench in the same position as he watched Muamba’s sickening struggle for consciousness, admitted: “As soon as it happened, the first thing that went through my mind was Fabrice.

“I was sitting in the dugout as I was for the Bolton game. Everybody inside the stadium no doubt had the same thought as I did.

“Anybody who was here at the stadium that night – and even those who weren’t – would have initially thought the worst when they saw Gomis had collapsed.

“And my first thought was ‘Please no, not again.’ We thought it was serious. It is not normal for someone to collapse, so we knew it wasn’t good.”

But with Swansea’s bench and medical staff aware of Gomis’ condition, fears were eased as they quickly spread the word once it was known Gomis had recovered with little problem.

The American veteran added: “Word got back to us about his condition after a minute or so. That’s why there wasn’t the same panic when he was brought off the field as there was with Fabrice.

Pictures: Gomis is treated after collapsing on the pitch

“It was something that still had to be dealt with, of course, but everyone knew he would be all right.

“Thankfully he came off straight away and was conscious. Now it is down to Swansea and their medical team to sort out this issue. It is good that it seems it wasn’t anything too problematic.

“The reaction from the medical teams was excellent when the incident happened to Fabrice, and it was excellent again on Wednesday night.”

Gomis was checked over in the White Hart Lane medical room before being quickly given an all-clear, boss Garry Monk revealing he had been keen to go back on before revealing the club were fully aware of his condition that has seen him faint in action on three previous occasions while with Lyon and in training with the France national side.

Monk stressed Gomis has undergone all necessary tests, although he was sent to hospital for precautionary measures after the game where he stayed overnight.

Gomis tweeted to reaffirm he was fine and stating the stress and fatigue of travelling to and from his homeland due to the poor health of his father may have been a factor in this latest worrying, if ultimately harmless, episode.

How other players reacted

Ki Sung-Yueng

“I was really worried about him, but I’ve heard now that he’s fine and getting better. I was worried about him all game.

“I was really surprised when it happened. It was the first time I have seen that.”

Neil Taylor

“It’s frightening when something like that happens on the pitch.

“Especially here – they must have been really worried – but the the medical staff got on the pitch really quickly and dealt with it perfectly.

“Obviously it was really concerning and luckily the paramedics got on quick and dealt with it.”

Ashley Williams

“My job was keeping the players focused and giving the doctors some space.

“I haven’t seen it before, but they say he’s got a condition and we were all kind of aware of that before.

“It wasn’t that we weren’t shocked, but I thought I’ve heard that this has happened to him before so hopefully he’ll be OK.

“You just speak to the boys, but everyone was bang on it. We were more disappointed about the goals we conceded.

“You just want to do it for Bafe because you never like seeing a team-mate go off on a stretcher.”

Gylfi Sigurdsson

“It’s never nice to see someone go down like that, but we’ve got a good medical team, they were on the pitch very quickly and hopefully he’ll be fine.

“I wasn’t there for Muamba, but I know the doctor came onto the pitch and saved him.

“I think the medical team were aware of Bafe’s condition.

“Every player goes through their medical checks, so we were aware of it and the medical team know what to do.

“We were ready to start the game when he went down. It wasn’t nice.

“I think it’s happened at Lyon and hopefully it won’t happen again.

“It would be nice to have Bafe back for the next game because he is an important player for us.”