Former Chelsea star Oscar was clinically dead for over two minutes before he came back to life after hearing his son beg ‘dad, come back’
Chelsea icon Oscar was clinically dead for over two minutes before he came back to life after hearing his son beg him to “come back”.
The former Chelsea midfielder, 34, suffered a cardiac arrest during a training session at Sao Paulo last November. He made a full recovery but the two-time Premier League winner was forced to retire in April.
He was diagnosed with fainting condition vasovagal syncope, which affects heart rate and blood pressure. After collapsing, Oscar had to undergo an ablation procedure, allowing him to live a normal life, not a professional (footballer’s) life, but a normal life”.
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Reflecting on the terrifying incident, Oscar told The Times: “(It was) Like a dream, a different dream … it’s difficult to explain.
“I always heard that when you are about to die, you see (yourself). I didn’t see (myself), but I had a very nice dream, where everything was amazing.”
Speaking about what pulled him back to life, Oscar added: “I just remember (hearing) my son saying, ‘Dad, you need to come back. Dad, you need to come back.’”
Oscar married his childhood sweetheart Ludmila in 2011 and the couple have two children together, Julia, born in 2014, and Caio, born in 2016.
The Brazilian and his family moved from west London to China in January 2017 when Oscar joined the lucrative Chinese Super League side Shanghai Port after four-and-a-half years at Chelsea.
Chelsea signed the playmaker from Internacional in the player’s homeland before turning him into one of the most exciting creative sparks in the league. He scored 38 goals in 203 games in total for the Blues as well as lifting two Premier League titles, the League Cup and the Europa League.
Oscar lasted a lot longer than most of the other marquee Chinese Super League signings, leaving in 2025 to return to Brazil with Sao Paulo.
However, he played just 21 times before his career was cut short and he was forced to retire just months into his three-year contract.
He said: “I wanted to do the next season, I was thinking about the next season, how I could be better, how I could help more Sao Paulo.”