Ivory Coast’s Serge Aurier helps save Moussa Doumbia’s life after Mali midfielder collapses and swallows tongue during World Cup qualifier

• Moussa Doumbia collapsed during Mali’s clash with Ivory Coast
• The player started to swallow his tongue and was helped by Serge Aurier
• PSG defender was praised for his actions by Mali boss Fousseni Diawara

PSG defender Serge Aurier helped save the life of one of his opponents during Ivory Coast’s win over Mali.

Moussa Doumbia collapsed during the early stages of the World Cup qualifier between the west African rivals and is said to have started swallowing his tongue.

Right back Aurier was quick to put Doumbia on his side to help him and later visited the player in hospital.

‘Doumbia fell and was swallowing his own tongue and Serge was one of the first to arrive and help,’ said Mali boss Fousseni Diawara.

‘That’s when Aurier, with one of our players, quickly put him on his side and pulled out his tongue, because he was about to lose his life.’

‘There is one thing nobody is talking about, which is the manner in which he helped a Malian on the pitch.’

However, despite his heroics, Aurier later caused controversy when he made a throat-slit gesture after Ivory Coast scored their final goal in a 3-1 victory.

‘On Monday, we flew back to Paris together and we did not talk about it [the throat-slit gesture],’ he told Goal.com.

‘Instead, he was praising our team. Ivory Coast-Mali is a hotly contested derby for both sets of supporters because the Malians and Ivorians are a bit like cousins.’