Denmark kicked their Euros campaign off, facing debutants Finland in the Group B encounter. The Danes were on top as one would expect, with Finnish custodian Lukas Hradecky being called into action time and again. It seemed like only a matter of time before they would be leading. With the match approaching halftime, the game saw a bit of a stop-start passage with a couple of hard fouls. However, what happened next shocked the entire stadium and the world.
WHAT HAPPENED
Christian Eriksen, the home crowd’s favourite, went down from an off the ball incident near the touchline on the farside. Players around him immediately converged on Eriksen, all of them signalling to the medical officials. There were soon visuals of tears and praying seen across both camps along with the crowd who could all sense that something was very wrong. The nature of this collapse was more concerning given the fact that there were no other players near Eriksen when this happened.
https://twitter.com/FootTheBall/status/1403772598085775363?s=20
Soon, the stretcher was also brought out and treatment continued on the pitch for more than 15 minutes. Meanwhile, match officials were seen discussing with both managers and UEFA officials, seemingly regarding the future of the match. That future was made more clear with the news that play had been suspended till further notice. The supporters broke out into cheers to give encouragement to Eriksen at regular intervals, with football clearly furthest from everyone’s mind.
FURTHER NEWS
Thus, it was a relief when the medical staff made their way off the pitch with Eriksen on the stretcher. He was cheered on throughout the whole time as further updates were awaited.
Following the medical emergency involving Denmark's player Christian Eriksen, a crisis meeting has taken place with both teams and match officials and further information will be communicated at 19:45 CET.
The player has been transferred to the hospital and has been stabilised.
— UEFA Nations League (@EURO2024) June 12, 2021
UEFA soon confirmed that Eriksen had been hospitalized and in a stable condition. He is also undergoing tests to assess his condition but this has been a major boost for football fans everywhere.