Friday June 18, 2021
Six days after the collapse
Dane Eriksen visits national team
Six days after his collapse in the Denmark-Finland game, Dane Christian Eriksen can leave the hospital. Before that, the midfield star was given a defibrillator. His first path leads him to his team.
The Danish national soccer player Christian Eriksen has been successfully operated on and discharged from hospital after his dramatic collapse. This was announced by the Danish association DBU. Eriksen, who had to be reanimated last Saturday after a collapse on the field, was put in a defibrillator. According to the DBU, the 29-year-old visited the Danish team in Helsingör on Friday and traveled home to his family from there.
Eriksen thanked him for the many greetings he had received in the hospital, “that was indescribable.” The operation went well, “I am doing well under the circumstances”. Seeing his teammates again was “really great”. Eriksen collapsed in the 43rd minute of the game against Finland on Saturday, and emergency doctors and paramedics saved his life with resuscitation measures. The life-saving measures were coordinated by a German doctor: Jens Kleinefeld from Cologne took on responsibility for the rescue.
Eriksen could only watch the 1: 2 defeat of his Danes against Belgium on TV in Rigshospitalet, 500 meters away. After an early lead, the co-hosts of the EM gave up the game, but Eriksen was enthusiastic. “You guys are so damn cool,” he wrote on the team’s WhatsApp group. The game was paused for one minute in the 10th minute. The players from both teams, the Dutch referee Björn Kuipers and the audience applauded the Inter Milan professional.
UEFA has come under fire
Eriksen’s breakdown last Saturday had also sparked a debate about UEFA’s role. Critics accused the European Football Association of having forced the game to continue without showing the players a real alternative. In addition to immediately restarting the game, UEFA had only offered the players a rescheduling the following day at 12 noon.
“The game shouldn’t have continued,” said the Danish association president Jesper Möller: “The players and coaches shouldn’t be put in this position because it is not and should not be their decision.” Before that, coach Kasper Hjulmand and some players had already criticized them.
But UEFA has so far rejected this criticism. “I was there myself. We handled it all well,” said tournament director Martin Kallen in the run-up to the game between Denmark and Belgium. “We were flexible and considered all the options. But there weren’t hundreds of options,” said Kallen. “In the end it was everyone involved who decided to continue the game. Nevertheless, after the tournament we will analyze whether it was for the future may give other options. “
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