Muamba’s exemplary fight offers Petrov hope

The 32-year-old is due to begin treatment in a London hospital today, but made the trip to Villa Park on Saturday to watch his side’s Premier League meeting with Chelsea.

Petrov released a statement shortly after arriving at the ground, thanking the football community for their support.

The Bulgaria international vowed to fight the disease and revealed he was using Bolton midfielder Muamba as inspiration.

Muamba suffered a cardiac arrest during the FA Cup quarter-final against Tottenham a fortnight ago, but has defied expectation in his recovery at the London Chest Hospital.

Petrov revealed a picture of Muamba sitting up in bed released on Friday had inspired him, along with numerous well-wishes, to get back to health.

“I would like to thank all of the people who have left messages of support. The response has been overwhelming and I appreciate it very much,” Petrov said. “This is a difficult time for my family and myself and I ask people to respect my privacy.

“With the help and love of my family, my team-mates, all of my friends in football, Aston Villa and all of the fans, I am sure I will beat this illness and I am determined to do this.

“I saw the picture released (on Friday) by Fabrice Muamba, my fellow player, and it has inspired me, as has all of the support in the past 24 hours.

“For me, football will have to take a back seat for a while, but I’m here (at Villa on Saturday) to support my team-mates and I will continue to support them as I know they will support me. Thank you to everyone.”

The statement was read out just before Saturday’s match to applause and chants of ‘There’s only one Stiliyan Petrov’ from all sections of the support.

Both sets of players wore shirts to show their support in the warm-up.

Villa’s players wore shirts reading ‘Support Stan’ while the message on the Chelsea shirts stated, ‘Our thoughts are with you’.

Villa fans stood and applauded during the 19th minute of the match, in reference to the fact Petrov wears the No 19 shirt for the club.

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo praised the professionalism of his players as they put to one side the emotion surrounding Petrov to triumph 4-2 at Villa Park.

Di Matteo said: “Our players wore the T-shirts saying ‘we support you’ before the game and we really feel for the players and the person as well.

“It was an emotional day. You can see how the football community comes together at these times.”