Platini hospitalized after fainting in South African restaurant

JOHANNESBURG - UEFA President and French football legend Michel Platini was rushed to hospital after fainting in a Johannesburg restaurant.

Platini, who has been UEFA President since January 2007, was having dinner at Johannesburg’s Le Pigalle restaurant in Sandton.

Initial fears that the 55-year-old may have suffered a heart attack were quickly ruled out by UEFA spokesmen.

“I talked to his assistant who was with him a few minutes ago and it seems (he was) just fainting because he has a cold and a fever,” The Telegraph quoted William Gaillard, UEFA spokesman, as saying.

“All the preliminary exams are negative. He’s conscious, he’s fine. They may carry out more tests because when a well-known person faints they normally do that, but I’ve been told not to worry. It’s nothing serious,” he added.

On reports that Platini had suffered a heart attack, Gaillard said: “When people faint, people imagine the worst. That’s a normal human reaction. I talked to someone who told me not to worry. Nothing serious.

These things happen.”

“It’s cold there. A lot of people have a cold, the flu, they have a fever. That could explain it,” he added. (ANI)