MIRACLE man Fabrice Muamba sat down with his family on Christmas Day to watch his Strictly Come Dancing performance on TV.

The former Bolton Wanderers’ player, whose heart stopped beating for 78 minutes after he suffered a cardiac arrest on the pitch earlier this year, took part in the Christmas Day special shown on BBC1.

Muamba, aged 24, performed a high-energy salsa with professional dancer Aliona Vilani, which won praises from the judges.

On Christmas Day, the father-of-one tweeted: “All the family sat in the front room waiting for my SCD (Strictly Come Dancing) debut. Hope you all enjoy it :-).”

He then added: “Hope you guys enjoyed my salsa on SCD had such a great time.”

The show’s judge Darcey Bussell described the pair’s performance as “incredible”

— although he didn’t win the show prize, which went to JLS singer JB Gill and professional dancer Ola Jordan.