The short version
- Frida Maanum (24) opens up about her dramatic collapse on the pitch against Chelsea on 31 March.
- Describes the situation as surreal and frightening, but quickly received medical help.
- Maanum has received an answer about the incident, but wants to keep it private. Arsenal state that no heart problems were found.
- Greeted with a standing ovation on his return to the field, and now feels confident.
View more
– It is difficult to say what goes through the body, there are many thoughts and many emotions. A special, and surreal, situation to be in.
This is how Arsenal and the national team’s star player describes coming to himself again after the dramatic collapse on 31 March.
Towards the end of the League Cup final against Chelsea, when the ball was in a completely different place, someone suddenly sounded the alarm:
Frida Maanum had fallen over. The dramatic images made headlines around the world:
– I just remember waking up and seeing the medical team around me. There were very many. I think anyone would have been stressed in that situation. That’s the last thing you think should happen when you play a football match, says Maanum.
She does not remember what the seconds before the collapse were like, but has seen footage of it all afterwards. That as part of taking control of and dealing with what happened.
Because as Maanum frankly says: There is no doubt that this was a tough experience.
– I’m afraid. It is a horror of what has happened, says Maanum about the feelings after she woke up.
– I think I am most afraid of what just happened. I think anyone who’s been a bit lost or passed out has a sort of “shit, what just happened?” feeling. I guess that’s what went through my head right when there were ten different medical people around me.
She says they tried to calm her down, but that it almost made her more stressed. “You have to deal with it one way or another, but it doesn’t work in that situation”, as she says herself.
Although she obviously wishes that it did not happen on the field and in battle, she is incredibly grateful that the medical apparatus was present and so strong.
– It couldn’t have been a better place, either – compared, for example, to the apartment at home, says Maanum.
Repeatedly, she praises the treatment and follow-up she has received in the search for answers. They have constantly explained to her what they are looking for, and she describes a feeling of security – despite the fact that the situation has been so uncertain.
They have received the answers, but Maanum wants to keep them to himself. Arsenal stated in a press release after the incident that “no obvious heart problems” had been found. Leading experts in the field were connected.
However, Maanum confirms that she now has a heart monitor just in case.
But she says she came to grips relatively quickly after what happened.
Opponents Guro Reiten and Maren Mjelde were waiting outside the medical room, and they were reassured by a message from Frida Maanum inside. Incidentally, Arsenal won in the end – “for Frida”, as several of the teammates have said afterwards.
And in the stands sat his girlfriend Emma Lennartsson. – It was terrible to see, said Lennartsson in an interview with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet.
– It was very dramatic for her, and for the family at home on the sofa. Perhaps especially for her, who was there in the stands. She came down to me quite quickly, it was good to have her there so quickly and for the whole first week, says Maanum.
And the family has always been there for her. It was the beginning of another demanding process: the way back.
– It’s been a lot, I’ll be honest about that. There have been doctor visits almost every day for a week and a half to find answers. There has been a fantastic medical team around me, not only at Arsenal, but also with the national team, since I might be going there, says Maanum.
The national team gathering in April did not materialize, but at the weekend she was back on the pitch when Arsenal beat Leicester – and Maanum was welcomed to a standing ovation from more than 40,000 at The Emirates.
– It was very moving, I have to admit I got goosebumps. That an almost packed Emirates stood up … it was a nice welcome back to the pitch.
But has everything that happened made her look at herself life in a different way?
– In a way, yes. Life is quite fragile in many ways, at least life as a footballer. It’s easy to take it for granted. Coming back on Sunday pretty much put it into perspective, that I should be pretty grateful every time I go out on that field. I always have been, but when something like that happens, you get a different perspective on it. In that way, there can also be something positive in it, she says – but stresses that she would most prefer not to be.
She describes that the way back has contained fear, uncertainty and horror – and that she managed to think the worst about her future career as a footballer. Now, however, it is possible to look ahead again.
– It is a sensitive topic, it has taken time to be able to talk about it. I’ve had to stick to my core a bit to not talk too much about it. But I think it’s nice to talk openly about it, I don’t think you read about it that often in the media.
Now she is not afraid of it anymore, now she feels it safe.
– It is something that hurts a lot. Many people around me have been afraid, I have been afraid, too. It’s a bit tough, but I think something good will come out of it, too, says Frida Maanum.
