Denmark’s team doctor Morten Boesen has confirmed Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest and that “he was gone” prior to being resuscitated.
The former Spurs midfielder collapsed on Saturday during the first half of Denmark’s Euro 2020 match against Finland before being treated on the pitch and taken to hospital.
At a press conference arranged by the Danish Football Federation on Sunday afternoon, Boesen said: “He was gone. We did cardiac resuscitation, it was a cardiac arrest.
“How close were we to losing him? I don’t know, but we got him back after one defib, so that’s quite fast.”
“We don’t have any explanation why it happened. The details about what happened I am not quite sure of because I am not a cardiologist, I will leave that to the experts. I didn’t see it live, only on screens afterwards.”
The team doctor revealed that Denmark’s players and staff were visited by a psychologist on Saturday night, and in hindsight feels the game should not have resumed.
“I don’t think the right decision was to play the game,” Boesen said. “We have had help from a psychological point of view at the hotel last night.
“Everyone expressed their feelings and how they saw the situation, and everyone was pleased we did this and talked it through.
“We really appreciated the professional help we have had from the outside.”
Denmark manager Kasper Hjulmand agreed that the match should not have been completed after the incident, and that the squad will try to use what happened as motivation for their next game against Belgium on Thursday.
“No we should not have played,” said Hjulmand. “I get the feelings from the players that maybe the time is too short to try to play football again, but maybe we can use it as a force to get together and try to go out and do our best in the next match.
“We will see if we can get ourselves together and play for Christian.”
Scotland captain Andy Robertson sent Eriksen his best wishes on behalf of his squad and praised the Danish players for their quick reactions.
“I’d like to send my well-wishes to Christian Eriksen, his family, all the Danish players,” he said.
“The way the Danish players dealt with what must have been a heart-breaking thing, they stood up to it. That will be the picture I remember and everyone should remember because, when one of their friends was in a bad place, they stood up and protected him.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here