• 'I started to see double. It felt almost like a dream' • Player has had defibrillator fitted as his heart's 'seat belt'

Fabrice Muamba has spoken for the first time about the cardiac arrest he suffered at White Hart Lane on March 17, when his heart stopped beating for 78 minutes. The Bolton midfielder said that he felt no pain but that he felt dizzy and was seeing double.

"I had no pain whatsoever. No clutching at my chest or tightness like you see when people have heart attacks in movies," he told the Sun. "I felt dizzy but it wasn't normal dizziness - it was a kind of surreal feeling, like I was running along inside someone else's body.

"Then I started to see double. It felt almost like a dream. I could see Spurs players running around in the distance and two Scott Parkers and then two Luka Modrices. The last thing I heard was our defender Dedryck Boyata screaming at me to get back to help out in defence.

"He obviously had no idea what was happening to me and neither had I. I just felt myself falling through the air then felt two big thumps as my head hit the ground in front of me then that was it. Blackness. Nothing. I was dead."

The 24-year-old was "dead" for 78 minutes following his collapse but has already been discharged from hospital, having had an electronic device implanted in case his heart stops again.

"I was conscious when they fitted my chest with the defibrillator wired to my heart," he explained. "It won't need another battery for 10years, and will be barely noticeable once my stitches have been taken out. My doctor likes to call it my heart's seat belt – it will save me if I have another accident."

Despite over a month in hospital it is still unclear what caused the collapse, but the Bolton midfielder is thankful for every extra day he has been given.

"What happened was more than a miracle," he said. "Even if I lived I was expected to have suffered brain damage. It would be great to play football again and I hope that will happen. But it's even greater just to live life and love my family. I'm a lucky man."