Doctors have revealed that Fabrice Muamba's heart had stopped beating for 78 minutes on Saturday.
The Bolton midfielder went into cardiac arrest during the FA Cup quarter-final against Tottenham at White Hart Lane with Dr Jonathan Tobin revealing that medics worked on reviving him for 48 minutes between the venue and the hospital and it was another half-hour before his heart started beating.
"In effect, he was dead in that time," Dr Tobin said.
Meanwhile, Dr Andrew Deaner, the Tottenham fan who raced onto the pitch to help the other doctors tend to Muamba, said the recovery he had made so far was nothing short of a miracle.
"If you're going to use the term miraculous, I guess it could be used here," he said.
