Christian Eriksen is “conscious and doing well”, the Danish FA have confirmed, after the midfielder collapsed again during their friendly against Ukraine on Sunday. Their team doctor confirmed that Eriksen has been taken to hospital where he is undergoing further checks. The former Tottenham, Brentford and Manchester United player clutched his chest and fell to the ground before his Denmark team-mates and medical staff rushed to help him. But it is understood that he is OK after being taken away from the stadium in an ambulance.
The incident left Eriksen’s Danish team-mates in tears and comes five years after Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest at Euro 2020 during a group stage match against Finland. Eriksen’s heart stopped for roughly five minutes and he received treatment for 13 minutes on the pitch, where he was resuscitated and defibrillated before being carried off on a stretcher. Following that, he was fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator device that works to restore a regular heart rhythm. That allowed him to return to football after a significant period of recovery during which he underwent multiple heart examinations.
“Christian Eriksen is conscious and doing well under the circumstances. The match has been called off,” read a Danish Football Association (DBU) statement after his collapse against Ukraine.
While team doctor Morten Boesen said on the 34-year-old: “Christian is doing well and walked off the pitch by himself. As I see it, the pacemaker responded as it should. He was briefly unconscious, but regained consciousness very quickly, and we were quickly in contact with him.
“He will now undergo further examinations as the hospital to determine what caused the incident. We are in ongoing contact with him and the doctors at the hospital. But Christian is doing well, and he asked me to send his regards to all the players and tell them that he was OK.”
Manager Brian Riemer said: “The most important thing is that Christian is doing well. And he has. He has left the pitch and has sent a greeting to the players. But that’s why the experience is still scary.”
After going down in the 65th minute, Eriksen lay on the pitch for several minutes but was eventually able to get up and walk to the ambulance himself. There was applause and chants of support from both home and away fans inside the Nature Energy Park in Odense.
Ex-Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner, a former team-mate of Eriksen’s for Denmark, fought back tears while working as a pundit for Danish TV channel TV2. He said: “These are horrible pictures, and it completely overshadows the rest of the evening.
“My thoughts are with the family and the children, and it’s a difficult situation to be in right now. This is the second time it has happened, and as Christian’s friend also… it’s really terrible.”
The match was ultimately abandoned in the 70th minute with Denmark winning 2-1 at the time. Eriksen had started for Riemer’s team, who were leading through goals from Man United’s Patrick Dorgu and Joakim Maehle before Viktor Tsygankov scored for the away team.
Denmark drew 0-0 with DR Congo earlier in the week and after failing to qualify for this summer’s World Cup, are not due to play again until September.
After his collapse in the Euros, Eriksen resumed his career at Brentford and then enjoyed three seasons with Man United. He left Old Trafford to join Bundesliga side Wolfsburg last summer. Wolfsburg were relegated after 29 seasons in the German top flight with a play-off defeat to Paderborn.