Nigeria international, Samuel Kalu, collapsed on the pitch just five minutes after the start of his side, Bordeaux’s French Ligue 1 match against, Olympique Marseille on Sunday evening.

Kalu was preparing to form a defensive wall at a free-kick when he collapsed to the turf in the 25-degree Marseille heat as fears gripped players from both teams.

UK Sun reports that the incident brought back memories of Denmark’s Christian Eriksen’s scary moments at the EURO 2020 when suffered a cardiac arrest during their opening match against Finland.

Subsequently, the 23-year-old Nigerian was quickly surrounded by concerned teammates who formed a human shield around him.

After receiving treatment from medical staff, the Nigerian thankfully got up and was incredibly allowed to play on but he only lasted eight minutes on the pitch as he was precautionarily substituted eight minutes later for Remi Oudin.

Although the cause of the incident is yet to be determined, the opposition fans stood up to clap him off at Stade Velodrome as he exited the pitch.

reports revealed that it was not the first time Kalu has collapsed on the football pitch.

Recall that he was rushed to hospital on the eve of Nigeria’s Africa Cup of Nations opener in Egypt back in 2019 after collapsing in training on that occasion, due to what was described at the time as ‘severe dehydration’.

He had been taking a corner when the scary incident occurred but was thankfully okay after treatment, the report added.