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The players Thomey Delaney and Andreas Christensen
Photo: FRIEDEMANN VOGEL / AFP
The spectators were still in the stadium.
No one seemed to have left his seat, even if the teams had long since left.
"Christian," the fans called through the Telia Parken in Copenhagen, and then: "Eriksen".
It was an alternation between Finnish and Danish supporters.
And again: "Christian Eriksen, Christian Eriksen." This was followed by long applause.
Christian Eriksen, 29, is conscious.
This was announced by the Danish Football Association at 7:31 p.m. on Saturday evening, and that was the most important news of that evening in Copenhagen.
Eriksen suddenly collapsed and remained motionless during the group match between Denmark and Finland at the European Championship.
For such a breakdown there is no rehearsed roadmap, no clear schedule of what to do next.
Here, the overwhelming strain is initially great.
The reaction of the players was all the more remarkable when Eriksen went down shortly before the end of the first half.
It was then Thomas Delaney who immediately called for medical help and had his Danish teammates gathered around him to create a privacy screen from Eriksen.
Some players were crying, they held their hands in front of their faces, but they stood there like a wall in front of Eriksen, who had been given chest compressions by paramedics.
Simon Kjær and goalkeeper Kaspar Schmeichel hugged Eriksen's partner Sabrina Kvist Jensen and looked after her.
Denmark coach Kasper Hjulmand fell to his knees in prayer.
A Finnish flag flew from the stands in the direction of the pitch, apparently also intended as protection for Eriksen.
The referee team around the Briton Anthony Taylor waited until Eriksen and the stretcher was ready for him to be transported to the hospital.
Then everyone left the field together.
"We're getting it over with now"
Almost two hours passed after the interruption, followed by the cautious all-clear from the Danish Association and then, to the surprise of many, the game continued. This should have happened at the request of the players, announced the associations. According to DBU football director Peter Møller, the Danish professionals had the opportunity to speak to Eriksen. Eriksen's father announced through his son's advisor that Eriksen could breathe independently.
But the direct sequel that same evening did not seem to have been entirely voluntary.
“We had two options: continue the game or play tomorrow at noon.
Everyone wanted to keep playing today.
What the players did was incredible, ”said coach Hjulmand.
“The players were sure they couldn't sleep today.
It was better to say: We're going to get it over with now. "
Finland succeeded in the continuation of the winning goal by Joel Pohjanpalo (60th minute), the Finnish keeper Lukas Hradecky blocked a penalty from Pierre Emile Højbjerg in the closing stages.
But that was all a minor matter.
Thoughts never returned to football that evening.
You stayed with Eriksen.
"A great victory for us," said Finland's Pohjanpalo to the broadcaster YLE: "But the most important thing is Christian's condition."
Eriksen is one of the biggest sports stars in the country, he has been named Football of the Year several times.
And he is the fixed point of the Danish selection, which is represented at a European Championship finals for the first time since 2012.
Eriksen made his 109th international match against Finland, scoring 36 goals.
But the player is not only a star on a national level, he is also one of the strongest playmakers internationally.
In 2019 he was with Tottenham in the final of the Champions League, which his club at the time lost to Liverpool.
He has been playing in Serie A for Inter since January 2020.
It took him some time to get used to there, but in the end he became more and more important for the Italian champion.
While the game continued in Copenhagen, the Belgian team also played against Russia. There Romelu Lukaku scored the opening goal for the Belgians. Lukaku celebrated his goal alone at first, he ran to a camera and shouted: "Chris, I love you." Chris, I love you. The striker plays with Eriksen at the club at Inter. All over the world there were well-being wishes for Denmark's number ten, from international sports stars and politicians.
The cause of Eriksen's collapse remained unclear in the evening.
At first there was no information about a previous illness, his injury history reads inconspicuously.
The season was long because of the Corona situation, the game plan was often compressed, but whether Eriksen suffered from exhaustion is open.
He rarely played over 90 minutes last season and was often only a substitute, especially in the first series.
Delaney is quick to respond
His teammates may have prevented much worse by immediately calling for help, especially Delaney.
As a Werder player, he once experienced a similar situation on the pitch, in 2017 in a friendly between Bremen and Ajax Amsterdam.
At that time, Abdelhak Nouri collapsed during the game, and Nouri was only given medical attention with a delay.
He suffered permanent brain damage.
The Eriksen incident also brought back memories of other soccer players who collapsed on the field, including Fabrice Muamba, who needed cardiopulmonary resuscitation in 2012.
He had collapsed during a game between Bolton and Tottenham on White Hart Lane.
Muamba tweeted "Please God" when Eriksen was taken to the hospital.
Muamba has fully recovered.
