Miracle recovery after star Eriksen collapses
DANISH star Christian Eriksen collapsed and needed CPR on the pitch during his team’s opening Euros match against Finland.
The 29-year-old who joined Inter Milan last year after seven years at Tottenham, was running towards the ball after a throw-in when he stumbled and fell.
As English referee Anthony Taylor called on medics teammates formed a wall around the player and doctors. Some were seen praying and visibly upset.
Fans from both national sides stood in shock and silence as Christian’s wife Sabrina Kvist was consoled by Denmark captain Simon Kjaer and goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
Finnish fans then started chanting “Christian” as Danes answered “Eriksen” and after 10 minutes of treatment Eriksen was carried off conscious.
The emergency happened towards the end of the first half inside Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium. The goalless match was postponed just after 6pm.
It resumed an hour-and-a-half later after Eriksen had a Facetime call with his teammates from the hospital and asked them to play the game. He said he felt “better now”, it was reported.
The Danish Football Union said: “Christian Eriksen is awake and his condition remains stable.” It
added he remained in hospital for further tests.
Following the request made by players of both teams, Uefa agreed to restart the match and Finland went on to win 1-0.
Finland’s national team tweeted: “The thoughts of the Finnish men’s national team are with his relatives and the Danish team.”
Former Spurs striker Gary
Lineker, who was in the BBC studio for the match, tweeted: “Extraordinarily the game between Denmark and Finland will resume at 7.30.This must suggest that Christian Eriksen is indeed stable.”
The incident brought back memories of Fabrice Muamba, whose playing career with Bolton Wanderers ended when he collapsed
on a pitch in 2012 after suffering a cardiac arrest and was “in effect dead” for 78 minutes.
He tweeted: “Please God” after news of Eriken’s collapse.
It also had echoes of 2003, when Cameroon star Marc-vivien Foé collapsed during a match against Colombia and died.
Spurs official Twitter page said: “All of our thoughts are with
Christian Eriksen and his family” while Inter’s said: “Forza Chris, all of our thoughts are with you!”
The BBC faced criticism for not cutting away after Eriksen’s collapse. It said: “We apologise to anyone who was upset. In-stadium coverage is controlled by Uefa as the host broadcaster, and as soon as the match was suspended, we took our coverage off air.”