A standing ovation, please, for Dinamo Bucharest forward Adrian Mihalcea whose first aid skills have permitted him to save the lives of three footballers.

His latest heroics came in the recent Bucharest derby when Steaua defender Dumitru Mitrita banged his head on the ground and lay motionless. Mihalcea calmly opened Mitrita's mouth and freed the tongue that had disappeared down the player's throat.

Earlier this season he did a similar favour for team-mate Claudiu Niculescu and three years ago he tended to a linesman who had been knocked out after being hit on the head by a missile thrown from the crowd.