Danish goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel has opened up on the feeling of meeting national teammate Christian Eriksen at the hospital. The midfielder suffered a cardiac arrest while playing a match on Saturday, 12th June.
Christian Eriksen’s Denmark took on Finland in the first Group C encounter of UEFA European Championship 2020, at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen. Just minutes before the end of the first-half, the Inter Milan player collapsed on the field.
Thanks to the quick reaction from the medics, the defibrillator was in use almost immediately, and following a successful resuscitation, the player was taken to the nearby Rigshospitalet.
Leicester City player Kasper Schmeichel, who was seen comforting Eriksen’s wife on the field, recently visited his teammate in the hospital.
It was damn nice to see him smile and laugh and be himself. Just to notice that he is there.
Schmeichel said about the meeting, as quoted by Leicester Mercury.
On being asked about what the duo discussed, the 34-year-old said:
We talked about nothing and everything. As long as he is well, that is the most important thing. He has experienced something that we have not experienced. He has a completely different experience of the situation. It was great to talk to him.
Controversy regarding the resumption of the match
The match was resumed after around a break of 90 minutes, with UEFA stating that both teams had agreed to play after they heard the news of Eriksen being in a stable condition. Thanks to Jan Pohjanpalo’s goal, Finland went on to secure all three points from the match. However, the decision to resume the game has been criticized by many.
According to former Denmark player Peter Schmeichel, who was present at the stadium for his punditry duties, UEFA provided Denmark with three options – one was to resume the game on that day, the other was to play it on the following day at 12 noon local time, and in case Denmark failed to do either, the third option simply was forfeiting the match 3-0.
According to Kasper Schmeichel, the Danish side was caught in a fix.
We were put in a position I don’t think we should have been put in. We had two options. None of the options were good. We took the least bad one.
He stated.
