Danish national team goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and striker Martin Braithwaite lamented on Monday (June 14th) that they had to choose whether the Denmark-Finland Euro football match should resume after their teammate Christian Eriksen suffered from heart failure. , Saturday. “We have been put in a position where, on a personal level, I think we should not have been placed”Kasper Schmeichel stressed at a press conference with Danish media in Elsinore, north of Copenhagen.
“We had two options: either come back the next day [le dimanche] at noon, either resume the match “, explained the Leicester goalkeeper. “Someone higher up than us would have had to tell us that this was not the time to make such a decision, and that we should probably wait until the next day to decide”, he continued. “But what happened has happened, and let’s hope they learn from it”, he added, paying tribute to the doctors, “Hero” of the evening.
For forward Martin Braithwaite, “We would have liked to have a third option”. Resume the match, “Was not a wish, but the least bad of the options” proposed, he insisted. On the ground, the meeting finally ended with the victory of Finland (0-1), in Copenhagen.
“Stable, good” state
It was the first time since the cardiac arrest of Christian Eriksen on Saturday against Finland that players spoke to the press. “It is a brutal experience to see a teammate and a friend down and in pain. Obviously, we are very affected. But he [Eriksen] is with us today and I am very very grateful ”, underlined Mr. Schmeichel.
Christian Eriksen’s condition in the hospital is still “Stable, good”, explained Jakob Hoyer, communication director of the Danish federation. The players were able to chat with him by videoconference on Sunday, and he also received a visit from Captain Schmeichel at the hospital. “He said with his words that we should be looking forward to Thursday’s game [contre la Belgique]. It means a lot “, recounted Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg, who missed a penalty against Finland after the resumption of the match.