Tottenham duo Sergio Reguillon and Eric save a life during match with Newcastle
The football world is celebrating Sergio Reguilon and Eric Dier for their heroism, after the kind gestures of the Tottenham duo saved a fan in distress during their Premier League clash at Newcastle.
Spurs were leading 2-1 in the 41st minute when referee Andre Marriner halted the match after the players brought the medical emergency in the East End of the stadium to his attention on Sunday.
Reguilon was among the first to notice the fan had collapsed in the stands and alerted Marriner, while Dier ran to the dugout and motioned for a defibrillator to be brought over.
Play was suspended for a few minutes as the referee beckoned to the players to leave the pitch while the fan was treated.
A hush fell over the stadium, with onlookers shocked by the troubling events that had unfolded.
Reguilon said afterwards that he pleaded with the referee to halt the match when he noticed the distressing scenes in the stands.
“I saw the fan lying down, and one man [giving him CPR], I was very nervous,” he told Sky Sports.
“I went to the referee and said we cannot play, stop the match. The fans say: ‘Stop, stop!’”
Newcastle later released a statement confirming that the fan was in a stable condition after being transferred to hospital.
“There is a medical emergency in the East Stand,” the stadium announcer said before telling the crowd the players would be returning.
“The supporter who was in need of urgent medical assistance has been stabilised,” Newcastle United said.
Meanwhile, Harry Kane scored his first English Premier League goal of the season as Tottenham overcame Newcastle 3-2 at St James’ Park.
Newcastle, spurred on by a buoyant atmosphere in their first game since being taken over by a Saudi Arabia-led consortium, flew out of the gates on Sunday and went ahead after just 108 seconds when Callum Wilson headed in from a Javi Manquillo cross.
But the bright start soon fizzled out as Spurs hit back in the 17th minute through Tanguy Ndombele, who lashed home from the edge of the box after being played in by Sergio Reguilon.
Things got worse for the hosts five minutes later when Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg played an excellent ball over the Newcastle defence and Kane beat the off-side trap to smartly send it over Karl Darlow.
Son Heung-min added to his goals this season after scoring from close range in the first-half stoppage time minutes after the Magpies were reduced to 10 men in the 83rd minute when Jonjo Shelvey saw red for a second booking.
An own-goal from Eric Dier set up a tensed game in the last minutes but Spurs held on.
“We got beaten by the better team after a wonderful start. Defensively, we had the same problems we’ve had for a while… we got our noses in front but did not defend well as a team,” said Newcastle boss Steve Bruce, who took charge of his 1000th game as a manager.
Tottenham after the win move up to fifth in the standings with 15 points from eight games whilst Newcastle remain at rock bottom with just 3 points from 8 games.
