Christian Eriksen feeling positive and ‘making jokes’ after cardiac arrest during Euro 2020

Eriksen is said to be in a positive frame of mind

Christian Eriksen was in good spirits “making jokes” on Sunday, according to his agent, as he remained in hospital recovering from a cardiac arrest.

Eriksen collapsed on the pitch during Denmark’s opening Euro 2020 game with Finland in Copenhagen, and was given emergency CPR on the pitch.

Eriksen’s agent, Martin Schoots, told Italian publication Gazetta that the Inter Milan midfielder was in a positive frame of mind. “We spoke this morning [Sunday]. He was making jokes, he was in a good mood, I thought he was well,” Schoots said.

Eriksen has no history of heart complications and wants to find out what happened to his body. “We all want to understand what happened to him, and he does too: the doctors are making some in-depth tests, but we’ll need some time,” Schoots said.

“He was happy, because he understood how much love he has around him. He received messages from the whole world. And he was particularly struck by those in the Inter environment: not just his team-mates who spoke to him in their private chat, but also the fans.

“Christian won’t give up. Him, and his family, want to make sure that everybody receives their thanks. Half the world contacted us, everyone was worried. Now he only needs to rest, his wife and parents are with him. Even tomorrow [Monday], he will remain under observation, maybe Tuesday as well. But in any case he wants to support his team-mates against Belgium.”

The match resumed later that evening, much to the surprise of many commentators after the incident, and Finland won the game 1-0. Peter Schmeichel, father of Leicester and Denmark goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that he did not think the players had a choice.

When asked if it was the players’ decision for the game to be restarted after Eriksen had been taken to hospital, Schmeichel said: “Well that’s an interesting debate. I actually saw an official quote from Uefa yesterday saying that they were following the advice of the player, the players insisted on playing – I know that not to be the truth. Or, it’s how you see the truth. They were left with three options, one was to play immediately and get the last 50 minutes played.

“The next one was to come in yesterday at 12 noon and finish the 50 minutes and the third option was to forfeit the game, 3-0. So work it out for yourself. Is it the players’ wish to play? Did they have any choice really? I don’t think they had. As you can hear from yesterday’s press conference, the coach, he seriously regrets putting the players back on to the pitch.”