I’ll rediscover my best form, vows miracle man Eriksen
CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN never doubted he would return to football following his cardiac arrest, with Brentford’s new signing confident he can rediscover his best form.
The 29-year-old was ‘gone from this world for five minutes’ after he collapsed during Denmark’s Euro 2020 clash with Finland in June.
But, having been fitted with an implantable cardioverterdefibrillator (ICD), Eriksen is back in the Premier League.
‘Of course when it happened and the first few days after, I didn’t think about playing again,’ he said yesterday.
‘I wanted to get all the tests done and talk with all the doctors to see what is a possibility and what is not. But then ever since, I think less than a week, they said, “You have an ICD but otherwise nothing has changed, you can continue a normal life and there are no limits to what you want to do”.’
Eriksen has watched the horrific incident, when he needed emergency CPR while team-mates surrounded him in a human shield.
‘It still is weird to watch. In the beginning, the first few days obviously I didn’t watch — I wanted to but didn’t want to at the same time,’ Eriksen told BBC Sport. ‘I was gone from this world for five minutes until they got my heartbeat back.’
Eriksen continued: ‘I can remember everything apart from the five minutes... the throw-in, the ball hitting my knee and then I don’t know what happened after.
‘I woke up with people around me and felt the pressure on my chest, trying to get my breathing back. I opened my eyes and saw people around me, I didn’t really understand what was going on.’
He even wondered: ‘Did something happen with my legs, did I break my back? Can I lift my leg up?’
Eight months on, Eriksen’s Brentford debut could be only a few weeks away.
‘I have been disciplined for the last six months, so maybe I am in better condition than before,’ he said. ‘I don’t see a reason why I can’t get back to the same level.’