Copenhagen – Denmark's national soccer team has postponed the training planned for Sunday after the collapse of Christian Eriksen. All media activities were also canceled. The Danish association announced this on Sunday morning after the 0: 1 (0: 0) against Finland on Saturday in Copenhagen. A former Eriksen cardiologist said the player had no heart problems while at Tottenham Hotspur.
The 29-year-old Eriksen collapsed on the pitch shortly before the end of the first half and had to be reanimated. His condition is stable and he is in a hospital in Copenhagen. Denmark's team doctor Martin Boesen has vividly described the dramatic struggle for Eriksen's life. “He was lying on his side, breathing and also had a pulse. But suddenly that changed and we started with the heart massage,” said Boesen. “We managed to get him back.” I didn't see the scene myself, “said Boesen,” but he was obviously passed out. “The help was” very quick and coordinated “- and therefore life-saving.
The hero in the background
The secret hero in the background was Simon Kjaer. The 32-year-old Danish captain had sprinted from the center line to the scene of the accident and brought his friend into a stable lateral position. As soon as the emergency doctors arrived, the AC Milan professional drummed up his teammates and instructed them to form a circle around Eriksen – as a privacy screen from the television cameras and curious viewers.
And even then, Kjaer still kept track of things. When the stewards Eriksen's friend Sabrina Kvist Jensen did not want to let Jensen on the lawn, the captain stepped in. Kjaer cleared up the situation and got her on the pitch. Together with goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, he hugged Kvist Jensen, who has two small children with Eriksen, for minutes and offered consolation.
About a quarter of an hour after the game restarted, Kjaer was overwhelmed by emotions. The 108-time team player asked for a substitution and was replaced by Jannik Vestergaard in the 63rd minute. “Simon was very hit, they are very good friends,” sobbed coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was also struggling with tears: “He wanted to try, but it was impossible. The feelings overwhelmed him.” He could “absolutely” understand that, said Hjulmand: “I couldn't imagine playing in such a situation either.”
Message from Eriksen
According to Inter Milan's managing director Beppe Marotta, Eriksen sent a message to his club colleagues just a few hours after his collapse. “He's doing a lot better. The nice thing is that he sent a message to our internal inter-chat. He calmed the team down and said that he'll be back soon,” said Marotta on the Italian TV channel Sky Sport.
“Traumatic Experience”
The Danish association is now offering its players psychological help after the emotionally stressful incident. “It's a traumatic experience,” said team principal Kasper Hjulmand late on Saturday evening. “We'll spend the next few days working on it as best we can. And of course there are professional people around us.” The association specifically offered “crisis aid to the players, Christian's family and everyone else in the men's national team”.
Dr. Sanjay Sharma of St. George's University in London said Eriksen had been tested without any abnormalities since 2013, but the sight of the Inter Milan playmaker falling to the ground (since January 2020) briefly raised concerns that the doctors had missed something. “I was like, 'Oh my god? Is there something we haven't seen?' But I looked at all the test results and everything looked perfect, “Sharma told The Mail.”
Root cause research
“From the day we signed him, it was my job to examine him and we tested him every year,” added Sharma. “So his tests through 2019 were certainly completely normal, with no obvious underlying heart defects. I can confirm that because I did the tests myself.”
Eriksen's employer, Inter Milan, is in close contact with the Danish doctors, according to Managing Director Beppe Marotta. He did not want to speculate about the reasons for the collapse, said Marotta. “He did not have Covid and he was not vaccinated.” (APA, dpa, sid, red, 13.6.2021)
