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June 16, 2021

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‘Fine’ Eriksen bolsters Denmark

Denmark’s Christian Eriksen said he was feeling “fine — under the circumstances” and expressed gratitude for the flood of messages he had received after he suffered a cardiac arrest during their Euro 2020 opener on Saturday.

His first public comment since the collapse on the pitch came as his teammates were preparing for their second Group B game against Belgium tomorrow.

“Big thanks for your sweet and amazing greetings and messages from all around the world. It means a lot to me and my family,” Eriksen said in a post on the national team’s Instagram profile. “I’m fine — under the circumstances.”

The post was accompanied by a picture of the 29-year-old lying in a hospital bed, smiling and giving a thumbs-up.

“But I feel okay. Now, I will cheer on the boys on the Denmark team in the next matches, Play for all of Denmark.”

Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand said it would be “very emotional” for the players to return to the stadium where they witnessed their teammate collapse.

“I have said — very apropos — that Christian is the heart of our team. He is the pulse, the rhythm of our game,” Hjulmand told reporters yesterday.

“No one can replace Christian ... But together we will do something together, something different.”

Eriksen collapsed just before halftime in the match against Finland, which the Danes lost 0-1, and was taken to hospital after receiving CPR on the pitch.

UEFA offered the players, who gathered in the locker room, the choice of resuming the match on Saturday evening or beginning again on Sunday.

Hjulmand sharpened his criticism of governing body UEFA’s handling of the incident. “I felt that the players and I were being put under pressure. That is the truth. Everything else is not true.

“I would have liked if UEFA had said: Of course there will be no more playing tonight, go home and we’ll look at it later.”

UEFA said on Monday it had dealt with the matter as carefully as it could at the time. “UEFA is sure it treated the matter with utmost respect for the sensitive situation and for the players. It was decided to restart the match only after the two teams requested to finish the game on the same evening,” it said.

Denmark trained for a second straight day yesterday after taking Sunday off. The team was visited during the training session by Danish Crown Prince Frederik, who attended Saturday’s game.

And Hjulmand said he can tell that his players are gradually getting back the right mindset to play again.

“From the start of the training (on Monday) until the end of the training, I think something happened, positively,” he said. “To get your body going again and to be on the pitch knowing that Christian is OK helped us all. ... Yesterday afternoon, more and more smiles were on the faces of the players.”

But he acknowledged that returning to Parken Stadium again will be emotionally challenging.

“I don’t think they’re afraid to play. But the normal reaction to a trauma like this, you should know, it’s not only yourself. It’s also your family, maybe your kids, your wife, your parents. So the box of emotions has been opened. I think we took a big step yesterday and I think we’ll take another one today.

“Of course the time until the kickoff will be emotional, and we have to prepare ourselves for that, for entering the stadium again. Getting back to see our great fans. And up to kickoff there’ll be a lot of emotions we have to handle, and then prepare ourselves for when the referee whistles his first whistle. We will be ready to go and fight and play well and do everything for Denmark.”




 

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