Newcastle United and Tottenham legend David Ginola has returned home following his quadruple heart bypass operation.

The 49-year-old former Newcastle and Tottenham player required the procedure after going into cardiac arrest playing football in the south of France on Thursday, 19 May.

He tweeted: "Home at last! Thanks so much to all of you for your incredible messages of love and affection!"

Surgeon Gilles Dreyfus said Ginola was "extremely lucky" to be alive.

The professor of cardiac surgery at the Monaco Heart Centre said the ex-France international "was shocked four times on site" by an ambulance crew. They were able to restore a normal heart rhythm and within 10 minutes a helicopter arrived to transfer him to the centre.