‘Stupid moment’ – Man Utd star Christian Eriksen reflects on cardiac arrest that has not changed who he is or what he does

• Midfielder collapsed at Euro 2020
• Life saved my medical staff
• Returned to action in the Premier League

WHAT HAPPENED? The Manchester United midfielder collapsed midway through his country’s opening game at Euro 2020, with his life being saved by the quick thinking and urgent action of team-mates and medical staff. A remarkable return to competitive action has since been made, with Eriksen awarded ‘The Comeback of the Year’ prize at the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards. The 31-year-old acknowledges that he is lucky to be alive, but says he will not allow events outside of his control to dictate who he is and what he does.

WHAT THEY SAID: Eriksen said when collecting his award in Paris: “It has been an incredible one-and-a-half years. It changed my life for the worse but the doctors and medics and team-mates got me back. I was lucky nothing serious happened. It happens, unluckily. What I learnt from this is that it gets emotional for me when I’m around my family. I’ve been myself. I was myself anyway, only for that stupid moment. I haven’t changed my daily routine. I’ve enjoyed my life, my wife, and kids more. That’s what’s different.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Eriksen has previously said of an incident that sent shockwaves around the world: “I felt a small cramp in my calf and then I blacked out. When I woke up from the CPR it was like waking from a dream. I don’t remember a thing from when I passed out. I’m on my back when I wake up. I feel them pressing on me. I struggled to breathe – and then I heard faint voices and doctors talking. I’m thinking, ‘This can’t be me lying here, I’m healthy’. My first thought is that I broke my back. ‘Can I move my legs? I can move my toes. It’s not until I’m in the ambulance that I realise I had been dead. I’m thinking, ‘Keep my boots, I won’t play again’. I tell my fiancée Sabrina the same – ‘I’m not going to play again, no way’.”

IN THREE PHOTOS:

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WHAT NEXT? Eriksen, who has been fitted with a defibrillator that detects and reacts to irregular heartbeats, was released by Inter following his collapse – due to Serie A rules – but returned to action in the Premier League at Brentford and joined United as a free agent in the summer of 2022.