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There have been distressing scenes as Danish star Christian Eriksen collapsed on the field during an international friendly on Monday morning (AEST). <\/p>\n
Eriksen collapsed suddenly without any warning while standing on his own near the penalty area during his team\u2019s match against Ukraine. <\/p>\n
It has been five years since he collapsed on the field in similar circumstances. <\/p>\n
Teammates, support staff, Ukrainian players and officials all raced onto the field at the sight of Eriksen lying on the ground.<\/p>\n
The Danish team eventually delivered the news everyone in the football world was hoping to hear \u2014 that he was in a stable condition. <\/p>\n
\u201cChristian Eriksen is conscious and doing well under the circumstances,\u201d the Danish football association wrote on social media. <\/p>\n The 34-year-old has worn a pacemaker on his heart since he collapsed during the group stage game against Finland at Euro 2020, which was played in 2021. <\/p>\n That led to him spending more than six months away from football. On Sunday, he fell to the ground in the 64th minute of the match, with Denmark leading 2-1 at the time. <\/p>\n \u201cThere was a throw-in and walked calmly to the touchline. Then I turned around and I saw Christian collapse,\u201d Denmark captain Pierre Emile Hojbjerg told Danish station TV2. <\/p>\n \u201cWe know very well what that means and the reaction was extremely rapid and respectful.\u201d Medical staff rushed onto the pitch to give Eriksen assistance, while players gathered around him to shield the scene from television or smartphone cameras. <\/p>\n The referee called off the match a quarter of an hour later. \u201cIt\u2019s an extremely shocking experience for everyone, the staff,the players and the opponents,\u201d said Danish coach Brian Riemer, who previously worked with Eriksen at Brentford. <\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s someone who counts a lot for me. You\u2019re closer to certain players than others and he was one of the ones I got close to at Brentford.\u201d Eriksen was subsequently taken to hospital in Odense, where the match was played. <\/p>\n \u201cThe main thing is that he was able to walk off by himself, because that makes you think he\u2019s doing ok given the circumstances,\u201d former player Niklas Bendtner told TV2. <\/p>\n \u201cBut these are terrible images that outweigh the rest of the evening… It\u2019s the second time it\u2019s happened and as a friend of Christian\u2019s… it\u2019s really awful.\u201d <\/p>\n Denmark\u2019s team doctor Morten Boesen said Eriksen was \u201cdoing well\u201d. \u201cAs I see it, the pacemaker responded as it should. <\/p>\n \u201cHe was briefly unconscious, but regained consciousness very quickly, and we were quickly in contact with him.<\/p>\n \u201cHe will now undergo further examinations at the hospital to determine what caused the incident.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in ongoing contact with him and the doctors at the hospital. \u201cBut Christian is doing well and he asked me to send his regards to all the players and tell them that he was ok.\u201d He said he had been in contact with Eriksen\u2019s cardiologist in Denmark, who would be able to analyse the data from the pacemaker. <\/p>\n When Eriksen suffered his cardiac arrest at Euro 2020, the match resumed, with Finland winning 1-0. <\/p>\n European football\u2019s governing body UEFA had told the team they had to either resume the match there and then or do so at midday the following day, a stance which came in for much criticism, including by Denmark great Peter Schmeichel, whose son Kasper was in goal for the national side, who called it \u201cabsolutely ridiculous\u201d. <\/p>\n He also accused UEFA of showing a lack of \u201ccompassion\u201d.<\/p>\n Denmark\u2019s then-coach Kasper Hjulmand said afterwards: \u201cWe should not have played.\u201d Denmark also lost their following match to Belgium but then won three in a row to reach the semi-finals, where they were beaten by England. <\/p>\n Eriksen resumed his career seven months later at Brentford in the Premier League having been forced to leave Inter Milan due to Italy\u2019s rules against playing with a pacemaker. <\/p>\n He went on to join Manchester United, where he won the FA Cup and League Cup, and now plays for Wolfsburg in Germany, where he has another year to run on his contract. <\/p>\n He also resumed his international career, playing for Denmark at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and Euro 2024 in Germany.<\/p>\n Denmark have not qualified for the World Cup in North America, which starts next week.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n