Christian Eriksen: Denmark team doctor says midfielder 'was gone' as he confirms cardiac arrest

Denmark's players form a protective shield around Christian Eriksen as he receives medical attention. Picture: SNS

The Internazionale star collapsed near the end of the first half of the match in Copenhagen. He needed urgent medical treatment, including receiving CPR and a defibrillator on the field as his team-mates made a protective circle around him.

The physios and doctors were able to revive the 29-year-old’s heart and he soon regained consciousness. Tests are still being run on the former Tottenham Hotspur ace as he remains in hospital. It is not known yet what caused the cardiac arrest.

Morten Boesen said: "The exams that have been done so far look fine.

"We don't have an explanation why it happened. I can't answer that question. I didn't see it live, I saw it on screen when it happened. You saw the same as me. No explanation so far.

"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."

The doctor also doesn’t believe the game should have been restarted on Saturday evening. After play suspended around 5.50pm, once it was confirmed Eriksen was in a stable condition, the players restarted the game at 7.30pm. Finland were able to emerge victorious with a 1-0 victory.

Boesen added: "I don't think the right decision was to play the game.

"We 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.”

Manager Kasper Hjulmand backed Boesen’s opinion as he fears the trauma will negatively impact his players over the remaining matches.

He said: "No, we should not have played. We will try tomorrow to establish normality as much as possible. Players have different reactions to shocks and trauma but we will try to get back to normal as much as possible.

"I get the feeling 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."

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