HORROR AT THE EUROS
● Football in shock as Eriksen collapses during group match ● Stable in hospital after CPR on pitch but game restarts
CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN was stable in hospital last night after dramatically collapsing on the pitch in Denmark’s opening game of Euro 2020 against Finland.
The former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder suffered an apparent cardiac arrest in the 42nd minute, causing frightened team-mates to beckon medical staff before forming a protective ring around him.
Denmark captain Simon Kjaer was the first player on the scene and appeared to assist in preventing Eriksen from swallowing his tongue and placing him in the recovery position.
Doctors raced to Eriksen’s aid to perform CPR before using a defibrillator as they fought to save his life.
Kjaer and Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel comforted Eriksen’s partner Sabrina Kvist Jensen, who had rushed on to the field.
Initially it seemed Kjaer thought Eriksen had stumbled as he conversed with referee Anthony Taylor, before he suddenly began frantically gesturing to the bench with Englishman Taylor also indicating they needed urgent assistance. The fear was Eriksen’s life was slipping away before a global audience of millions as his family and team-mates watched on helplessly from the pitch.
Kjaer and Schmeichel organised distressed team-mates to form a circle around their colleague, linking arms around the stricken player, to prevent cameras from viewing the attempts to resuscitate him.
Several appeared to be in tears and all, including the Finnish players, were visibly affected by the ensuing scenes. There was criticism as local TV producers kept close-up cameras trained on the incident even as it appeared Eriksen might be dying and the BBC’s Gary Lineker later apologised, with the BBC production team choosing to stay on the incident rather than revert immediately to the
studio. The incident brought back memories of Fabrice Muamba collapsing while playing for Bolton against Tottenham in March 2012. Despite being medically dead for 78 minutes, Muamba recovered, though he couldn’t play again.
‘I was in tears yesterday,’ Muamba told The Mail on Sunday last night. ‘It brought back everything — everything. It was scary. I was thinking, “Come on Eriksen, come on.”
‘Everything was suddenly there again for me in my mind. I have always tried not to think about it too much, but it’s hard not to. The more I think about it, the more it gets to me.’
Referee Taylor instructed the Finland team to return to their changing room and UEFA announced the match had been suspended. Shocked supporters, many also in tears, largely sat and held each other not knowing what to do before both sets of fans united in a moving chant of ‘Christian Eriksen’.
After 15 minutes of treatment, Eriksen was taken off the pitch on a stretcher and taken to the Rigs Hospital, which adjoins the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen. He appeared to be awake, with eyes open and clutching his forehead as oxygen was being administered.
Soon after, the Danish FA released a statement saying; ‘Christian Eriksen is awake and undergoing further examination in hospital.’
Eriksen reportedly held a FaceTime call with his team-mates from his hospital bed and encouraged them to finish the game. Both Finland and Denmark players then said they wished to restart the match, with Finland eventually wining 1-0.
Peter Moller, football director of the Danish FA, told broadcaster DR: ‘We’ve had contact with him, and the players have also talked to Christian. That is the good news. Fortunately, he is doing well, and the players are playing the match for Christian. He collapsed and got help and heart treatment on the field. He was fortunately awake when he left the stadium.’
Eriksen’s agent Martin Schoote said on Dutch radio that he spoke briefly with the player’s father, who told him that Eriksen could breathe and talk. ‘That’s the news I have at the moment and we’re happy about that,’ he said.
England manager Gareth Southgate and captain Harry Kane, a close friend of Eriksen’s from their Tottenham days, were due to speak to the media as the incident unfolded but last night England called off all their press activity prior to today’s match against Croatia.
Southgate later said: ‘We are encouraged by the update from the Danish FA. On behalf of The FA, our players and staff, we send our very best wishes to Christian and those close to him. We pay tribute to those who went to his aid with such care to give the support he received. Our thoughts remain with Christian and his family tonight.’
The Scotland squad tweeted a message of support, which read:
‘The thoughts of all at the Scotland National Team this evening are with Christian Eriksen, his family and @DBUfodbold.’
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said: ‘Moments like this put everything in life into perspective.
I wish Christian a full and speedy recovery and pray his family has strength and faith. At these times, the unity of the football family is so strong and he and his family carry with them the good wishes and prayers of everyone.’
Mauricio Pochettino, Eriksen’s former manager at Tottenham, used social media to send support to the stricken Dane. He said: ‘Thinking only positive thoughts for you Christian. Get well soon.’
Many were surprised at the players’ determination to resume the game with former England defender Micah Richards saying: ‘I couldn’t have done it after the scenes that we’d seen. It was a very difficult watch.’
Cesc Fabregas, the former Spain and Arsenal midfielder, added on the BBC: ‘We still can’t believe how they managed to do that. You see all the players, they were crying. They were conscious of what was happening at that moment.’
Staff at the stadium appeared to have enacted UEFA’s formal emergency action plan, which will have given Eriksen the best chance to recover, with cardiologists at the hospital alerted and stewards and medics well drilled in the procedure. Experts say that once Eriksen is stabilised, doctors will establish the cause of his collapse.
A sudden trauma can cause cardiac arrest and, in extreme circumstance, even an undiagnosed infection can cause a fit, which would lead to cardiac arrest. In Muamba’s case it was a congenital heart weakness which caused him to retire but, if the cause were an infection, a recovery to elite sport is theoretically possible.
Jonathan Tobin, one of the doctors who saved Muamba’s life at White Hart Lane told The Mail on Sunday: ‘Hats off to all the medics involved. I know how hard it is to think or breathe, let alone make decisions under that pressure.
‘I cannot begin to explain how stressful it is. It is nine years since Fabrice and, watching that unfold,
you immediately remember all those emotions from White Hart Lane, in the ambulance and the hospital. It brought back stressful memories.’
Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand was in tears in his post-match press conference and said: ‘It was a really tough evening, on which we’ve all been reminded what the most important things in life are. It’s meaningful relationships. It’s those people who are close to us. It’s family and friends. All thoughts are with Christian and his family.’