Dane Christian Eriksen, who suffered a spectacular heart attack during the Denmark-Finland match on Saturday, is still hospitalized in stable condition, the Danish Football Association announced on Sunday.
“This morning we spoke with Christian Eriksen, who greeted his teammates. His condition is stable and he is still hospitalized for additional examinations ”, explained the DBU in a tweet. “The team and the management of the national team have received crisis assistance and will continue to be there for each other after yesterday’s incident”, is it written.
Update regarding Christian Eriksen. https://t.co/YuKD9hS9LV
A press conference scheduled for the morning has been canceled and training postponed sine die, reported the television channel TV2. At the 43e minute of the Denmark-Finland match, played in the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, Eriksen collapsed suddenly on the pitch, eyes rolled back, before undergoing cardiac massage.
“I couldn’t be prouder of my players”
The game was halted as the Danes, some of them in tears, gathered to form a circle around the 29-year-old midfielder and hide him from view. After more than ten minutes of cardiac massage, the medical team evacuated the player from the field, still surrounded by Danish players.
UEFA then proposed to the Danish Football Federation to end the match the same evening or to postpone it until noon the next day. After talking to their teammate, who gave them reassuring news, the Danish team decided to resume the match, which ultimately ended in a victory for the Finns (0-1), after a goal in the 60e minute of Joel Pohjanpalo.
“You cannot play a game with such emotions, but no player could have gone home, managed to fall asleep and get up” to play the match the next day, explained Danish coach Kasper Hjulmand. “We tried to win. It was incredible to go there and try to play this second half. Honestly, we had players who were finished and emotionally exhausted ”, he explained. “But I couldn’t be more proud of my players, who took such good care of each other”, continued Hjulmand.
“It was a sad evening from every point of view, the misfortunes of Christian Eriksen obviously eclipsing all the rest”, wrote the DBU in a statement.
“Christian cheated death”
Christian Eriksen’s discomfort has caused a wave of sympathy across the continent, dominated by the relief of having avoided a tragedy in the middle of a Euro match.
The quick and efficient management of the player by the emergency services was undoubtedly decisive, as Danish national team doctor Martin Boesen explained. “The medical team [du tournoi] arrived quickly and with their help (…) we managed to make Christian “come back” ”, he revealed.
Responsiveness “Essential”, greeted by Emmanuel Orhant, medical director of the French Football Federation (FFF): “Once there has been a heart failure, there is very little chance that it will come back on its own. It is through the care provided by the Danish team doctor and the emergency field team that this player was able to stay alive ”, he analyzes.
Faced with the magnitude of the shock, the cleansing of Danish players scheduled for Sunday at midday was postponed, explained the Danish channel TV2. “There is more need for mental recovery than physical in such a morning”, said journalist Patrick Petersen from TV2.
The Danish tabloids have summed up the general feeling: “Shock in Parken”, titled the BT, while, for Ekstra Bladet, “Christian cheated death”. The benchmark daily, Politiken, cut short any controversy by defending the restart of the match, nearly two hours after Eriksen’s discomfort.
“What a fright! “, headlined the Madrid sports daily Ace, while for its counterpart Marca “The champions of the Euro” are ” the doctors “. In France, the daily The team evoked “A match for life”, with a beautiful photo of Eriksen running on the pitch, a slight smile on his lips, far from the disturbing images of the player, his eyes rolled back, broadcast on Saturday night, which prompted the BBC to apologize for relaying such scenes.
“It could have turned into a drama”, commented, Sunday, the French coach, Didier Deschamps, on TF1. “Fortunately, the on-site medical service did everything necessary to ensure that his condition is stable today. These are things that can happen, unfortunately. “