Christian Eriksen's collapse at Euro 2020 should force UEFA protocol change, according to Finland goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, who says that "everyone saw" Denmark captain Simon Kjaer "was totally out of it" after tending to his fallen team-mate.
The opening Group B game of this summer's European Championship on June 12 was marred by a major health scare for Eriksen as Denmark's medical staff were forced to resuscitate the midfielder after he stopped breathing on the pitch.
Eriksen eventually regained consciousness and made a full recovery in hospital while Denmark and Finland agreed to resume play hours after the incident, but Hradecky believes both sets of players should have been given more time to process such a harrowing event.
What's been said?
The Finland No 1 has pointed out that Kjaer, who gave Eriksen CPR before Denmark's medical team intervened, was left visibly shaken by the whole ordeal along with the rest of his team-mates, while expressing his belief that the decision to play on should have been taken out of their hands.
"Everyone saw, for example, that Simon Kjaer was totally out of it and still completely shocked," Hradecky told Goal and SPOX. "There must be a clearly defined protocol on what to do in such incidents.
"That would be very helpful to everyone involved. It must not be the case that traumatised players have to think about what should happen. Football is about people, as this case has once again clearly shown. They are the most important. So we need a clear rule that puts the human and not the commercial perspective in the foreground."
The Bayer Leverkusen shot-stopper added on his reaction to Eriksen's sudden collapse: "It was just terrible. The scene itself looked very strange. Despite my distance from what was happening, I quickly realised that it was something serious.
"Christian was completely gone. You are simply not prepared for it and don't know what to do in such a situation.
"So I say hats off to Simon Kjaer and Kasper Schmeichel in particular, but also to all the other Danish players, for what they did in those moments."
The swift restart
Hradecky's comments echo those of Denmark head coach Kasper Hjulmand, who said his players were given the option to either carry on with the game on the same night or at noon the following day.
"I think it was the wrong decision to make between the two scenarios," he said in a press conference later in the tournament. "It was very tough for the players. They didn't even know if they could probably lose their best friend. I have the feeling that we shouldn't have played and wrong that the players had to decide."
How is Eriksen now?
Doctors confirmed that Eriksen had suffered cardiac arrest after conducting a number of tests in hospital, and he was fitted with an ICD heart-starting device before being discharged.
The 29-year-old then reunited with his family and Denmark teammates, and gave his colleagues his support from afar as they made it all the way through to the Euros semi-finals, only to lose against England 2-1 after extra time.
Eriksen returned to Italy to visit his current club Inter at the start of August, and is now in the middle of an extensive rehabilitation programme, but it is not known whether he will be cleared to resume his playing career in the near future.
