Former Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen collapsed during Denmark’s friendly against Ukraine Wednesday, five years after he suffered a heart arrest during the European Championships.
Christian Eriksen is awake and in stable condition, the Danish football association said on social media.
The 34-year-old has had a pacemaker fitted to his heart after he fell during the Group Stage game against Finland at Euro 2020, which took place in 2021.
That meant he was out of football for more than six months.
He went down in the 64th minute of yesterday’s game with Denmark 2-1 up.
And there was a throw-in and walked to the touchline. Then I turned around and saw Christian go down’,’ Denmark captain Pierre Emile Hojbjerg told Danish station TV2.
“We know very well what that means, and the reaction was very fast and respectful,” he added.
Medical professionals rushed onto the pitch to help Eriksen while players surrounded him to block the view from television or smartphone cameras.
The referee blew the contest off fifteen minutes later.
“It’s a big shock for the staff, the players and the opponents,” said Danish coach Brian Riemer, who worked with Eriksen at Brentford.
“He’s a person who means a lot to me. There are certain players you become close to and he was one of those I grew close to at Brentford.”
Eriksen was then transferred to hospital in Odense where the game was played.
“It’s really horrible.”
“The most important thing is that he could walk away by himself, because that makes you think he is doing okay given the circumstances,” former footballer Niklas Bendtner said TV2.
“But these are awful visions that overshadow the remainder of the evening… “It’s the second time it has happened and as a friend of Christian’s… it is really awful,” remarked Bendtner.
Denmark’s team doctor, Morten Boesen, said Eriksen was “doing well”.
“The way I see it, the pacemaker responded the way it should.
He was unconscious for a short time but very rapidly came round and we got in contact with him very fast.
He will now be further assessed at hospital to find out why the incident happened.
“We are in regular contact with him and the doctors at the hospital.
But Christian is doing well and he requested me to give his greetings to all the players and inform them that he was ok,” he said.
He claimed he had been in touch with Eriksen’s cardiologist in Denmark who would be able to evaluate the data from the pacemaker.
Eriksen’s heart attack at Euro 2020 caused the match to be restarted and Finland won 1-0.
European football’s governing body UEFA had told the team they had to either resume the match there and then or do so at midday the following day. That stance came in for much criticism including by Denmark great Peter Schmeichel, whose son Kasper was in goal for the national side, who called it “absolutely ridiculous”.
He also blamed UEFA for a lack of “compassion”.
Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand stated afterwards at the time: “We shouldn’t have played.
Denmark also lost their next game to Belgium but then won three on the trot to make it to the semis, where they lost to England.
Seven months later, Eriksen returned to the Premier League with Brentford after being forced to leave Inter Milan because of Italy’s laws on players with pacemakers.
He moved on to join Manchester United where he won the FA Cup and League Cup and now plays for Wolfsburg in Germany where he has another year to run on his contract.
He also made a return to the Danish national team, playing in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and Euro 2024 in Germany.
Denmark will not be at next week’s World Cup in North America.
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