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David Ginola returns home after quadruple heart bypass operation

The 49-year-old former French football star and model, now a sports commentator, suffered cardiac arrest while playing a football match earlier this month.

La rédaction de Mediapart

This article is freely available.

Former France winger David Ginola is back at home following his quadruple heart bypass operation, reports BBC News.

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, May 19th.

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.

Ginola, who won 17 caps, retired in May 2002 and has gone on to become a pundit with the BBC, BT Sport, Canal Plus and CNN.

He moved to Newcastle from Paris St-Germain for £2.5 million in 1995.

A fans' favourite at St James' Park, he joined Tottenham in 1997, winning the 1999 League Cup with the Londoners.

Read more of this report from BBC News.