I remember I was coming out to cut out a cross and Peter Murphy, the Birmingham striker, came in to challenge me. When we collided it was like two trains hitting each other - neither of us could stop and we crashed into each other at high speed. His thigh caught me in the neck and I was knocked unconscious.
The physio came on with the magic sponge and I came round a few minutes later but I couldn't recognise anybody or see properly. There were 15 minutes of the match remaining and, in those days, you were not allowed substitutions, so I had to continue playing.
It was such a strange sensation. I wasn't seeing any colour - everything around me was grey and I couldn't see any of the players properly. I could only see silhouettes. It was like walking around in fog and trying to find my way.
I can't remember what happened during the rest of the match. I know now that I made one or two more good saves but it must just have been my subconscious taking over; everything was a blur of black and white.
I collapsed two or three more times in those last 15 minutes. I was in absolute agony and I was having to support my neck with my right hand. I couldn't move my head at all - if I wanted to look at anything, I had to turn my whole body around with my hand on my neck.
After the match I went to pick up my medal from the royal box but I was still holding my neck. The Duke of Edinburgh asked me if I was in any pain and I told him that it was like having really bad toothache.
The next day I was still in a lot of pain, so I went to a hospital in London and they told me that I just had a crick in my neck and sent me away. Three days later the pain was still there, so I went to see an osteopath in Manchester. He gave me an x-ray and told me I had dislocated five vertebrae in my neck. The doctors told me that I should have been paralysed and could have died.
A lot of people have said to me that if I hadn't been such a good goalkeeper and been so commanding in the penalty box, I wouldn't have broken my neck. I was very, very lucky.
Then what happened?
Trautmann was voted the 1955-56 player of the year, the first foreigner to win the award. He made a successful comeback from his injury and retired in 1963, aged 39. He is now involved with the Trautmann Foundation, which aims to improve Anglo-German relations through football. He was awarded an honorary OBE in 2004