Denmark and Brentford footballer, Christian Eriksen says it feels like a miracle to be able to play football again after collapsing while playing for Denmark at Euro 2020 last summer.
Denmark were playing Finland in their opening game of the Euros on 12 the of June, delayed by a year because of Covid, when the midfielder collapsed on the pitch in the 41st minute.
He received CPR and after 15 minutes of treatment was carried off on a stretcher. Eriksen was awake in hospital and, after a delay of about three hours, the match resumed with Finland winning 1-0.
“I can remember everything apart from the five minutes,” he explained. “I was told afterwards it was five minutes, otherwise I remember everything – the throw in, the ball hitting my knee and then I don’t know what happened after.” He told BBC.
“Then I woke up with people around me and felt the pressure on my chest, trying to get my breathing back, and then I woke up – I opened my eyes and saw people around me, I didn’t really understand what was going on.
The 29-year-old former Inter Milan and Tottenham footballer has been fitted with an implanted cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), a type of pacemaker, after suffering cardiac arrest at the tournament last summer .
He has now joined premier league club, Brentford on a six-month deal after his release by Inter Milan
“At that time I had no idea what had happened, then it goes through my head: ‘Did something happen with my legs? Did I break my back? Can I lift my leg up?’ – all small things I was trying to do to see what happened.” he said
