Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba has revealed that he played an impromptu game of football while on holiday, just two months after he suffered a cardiac arrest during an FA Cup tie last season.

The 24-year-old, whose heart stopped beating for 78 minutes following his collapse against Tottenham Hotspur in March, told CNN that he had a kickabout during a break with his fiancee Shauna Magunda in Dubai in May.

“I was on holiday and I was staying in a hotel and there were quite a few footballers in the hotel as well,” he said in a video posted on cnn.com on Friday.

“The staff of the hotel usually play against the visitors, so I was by the pool and heard they were playing football.

“Then I went across and saw other footballers playing and I told my friends and Shauna – I told her, ‘I am sorry but I am going to play football’. She goes, ‘Are you sure?’ and I say, ‘Yes’ and I just went in there.”

The former England under-21 said his fiancee was initially scared but added: “I just went in through the groove and played for about 20-25 minutes. It was just playing like normal, it was just playing like I was training.

“It was great, I enjoyed it… it was just to get back into the groove and to get back into momentum, it was just great. But I just hope to God that I can get in there myself, with the 11 players on the pitch and to play would be fantastic.”

Democratic Republic of Congo-born Muamba’s recovery has been hailed as miraculous but it is unclear whether he will play top-flight football again.