Breaking News: Fabrice Muamba Collapses On Pitch – UPDATED

Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba suddenly collapsed five minutes from halftime in today’s FA Cup match between Tottenham Hotspur and Bolton Wanderers. ESPN, who were covering the tie live on TV, reported that the 23-year-old midfielder had CPR while on the pitch at White Hart Lane, before adding how the player was not breathing during the 10 minutes medical staff tried resuscitating him with a defibrillator.

An outpour of supportive messages flooded social media in the moments that followed the scary and solemn scene, which culminated in Muamba, Bolton boss, Owen Coyle, and club captain, Kevin Davies, going to the hospital together in the same ambulance and the match being abandoned.

Former Tottenham boss, David Pleat, said on BBC Radio 5 live sports extra: “The player just went down – no-one was near him. Straight away the other players knew there was something seriously wrong.”

Kevin Keegan added: “Jermain Defoe seemed absolutely distraught…”The fans are in a state of shock. I’ve never seen anything like that on a football pitch before.”

And BBC Radio 5 live’s senior football reporter, Ian Dennis, also spoke from White Hart Lane about Muamba’s condition: “I’ve been speaking to members of the Bolton backroom staff, who say he is one of the fittest players at the club. You could see medical staff using a defibrillator and he was electronically charged on to least two occasions. Everybody could see Fabrice Muamba was fighting for his life on the pitch.”

Muamba, whose Twitter profile describes him as “a proud Dad” to his son Joshua Jeremiah Muamba, previously said how fatherhood was “a gift from God.”

Our thoughts, prayers and well wishes to Muamba and his family, as well as the entire BWFC community at large.

This it Video Fabrice Muamba Collapses 17th March 2012 Bolton vs Tottenham :