Arsenal Women’s goalkeeper Pauline Peyraud-Magnin admits she had sleepless nights after contracting an illness similar to coronavirus.

Peyraud-Magnin says she first suffered symptoms on March 16, four days after returning to London from Lyon where she had been playing for France in an international tournament.

In an interview with L’Équipe the Gunners stopper said that she became quite anxious about her illness, saying: “I was very tired, I had a hard time breathing, I had a constant headache, with a fever. But it was what I saw on TV that really scared me. It put my situation into perspective.

“I cannot say that I was dying, others are in much more delicate situations. Even if I did not feel horribly bad, when I got up, I saw everything was black. I felt like I was going to fall.

“With the stress, I slept sitting down because I was afraid of suffocating in my sleep. And then, I quickly stopped watching the news in France. I had sleepless nights.

“The club doctor told me what I should do. I also called the French team doctor and a doctor in my family because in France, we were more than a week ahead of England. If I have a message, it’s obviously: stay home!”

Peyraud-Magnin revealed that her father, who is a firefighter, helped her deal with the issue well, adding: “My father with everything he sees during the day, and my sister too, tried to put things into perspective. They helped me to take things positively, to try to relax, to be less psychotic.

“The situation is very unfortunate and I would like to extend my condolences to the bereaved families, but I think we need to have a slightly more positive attitude, insist on those who are coping, those who heal. But it’s human to be in a negative spiral like that.”

Peyraud-Magnin shares a house with Arsenal teammate Louise Quinn and said: “We were very careful. We’re lucky, we have two bathrooms, two toilets. It already removes a large risk area. For the common areas, I didn’t go to the living room and when I went to the kitchen, I disinfected everything behind me.”

She has played 10 games in three different competitions this season, including the Women’s Super League, Continental Cup and UEFA Women’s Champions League.