Nigerian international, Bordeaux striker, Samuel Kalu: collapses during French Ligue 1 match against Marseille
By Samson Adeyemo
Amid temperatures heating 30 degrees, Samuel Kalu, 23, collapsed in the sixth minute of Bordeaux’s Ligue 1 match against Marseille at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday evening before briefly returning to the pitch.
Amid searing temperatures, Nigeria international Samuel Kalu, 23, collapsed and slumped just six minutes into the game of Bordeaux’s Ligue 1 match against Marseille at the Stade Velodrome on Sunday evening.
Kalu, fell to the ground in the sixth minute as Dimitri Payet prepared to take a free-kick amid the sweltering and searing temperature.
Players from both teams quickly rushed to the Bordeaux’s striker, formed a wall around him as they quickly called for medical attention, in other to salvage the life threatening situation.
With the help of his team-mates, Kalu was able to get up and walk off the pitch holding an ice pack against his head.
He resumed playing several moments later but was then substituted and replaced by Remi Oudin, in the 14th minute that came in to score before the match finished in a 2-2 draw.
Though, at the moment it happened, the cause of the incident is unclear, however it brought back memories of a Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen’s who collapsed at the just concluded Euro 2020 in June when he suffered a cardiac arrest.
Like Kalu’s incident, players from both teams formed a wall around him and hastily sought for medical attention. However, Eriksen’s life was saved when CPR was swiftly administered to him on the pitch and his heart was re-started with a defibrillator and he recovered after undergoing heart surgery in a hospital.
