Nine months after his cardiac arrest, the Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen found the way to the net in a friendly match.
A little more than nine months – 287 days – after the football world held its breath hoping that he would find his own, the Dane Christian Eriksen managed a remarkable comeback despite the defeat in the Netherlands (4-2) in a friendly match, Saturday night at the Johan-Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam.
Entering the game in the second half, the Brentford attacking midfielder did not even wait two minutes to score, from his second touch of the ball, a superb goal with a powerful strike in the skylight, signing his 37th goal in 110 caps.
A sympathetic nod to his necessarily atypical destiny, Eriksen was able to make this sensational comeback on the pitch of his professional debut, that of Ajax, where he had shone for four seasons between 2009 and 2013.
An attentive spectator from the bench at kick-off, Eriksen, as planned by Danish coach Kasper Hjulmand, came into play after the break.
Highly applauded by the Dutch public and by Oranje coach Louis van Gaal as he entered the pitch, Eriksen raised his hands to the sky as a thank you.
Sharp and master of some exceptional technical gestures, he also hit the Dutch post with a splendid distant strike. He relished this return to ‘normal,’ who had tutoyed death on this fatal June 12, 2021.
Eriksen collapsed that day in the 42nd minute of Denmark’s match against Finland in Copenhagen during the group stage of Euro 2004. He remained unconscious for almost 5 minutes, according to the newspaper.
After implanting a defibrillator, Eriksen had resumed training at Odense, his training club. With the reserve team of Ajax, keeping the hope of resuming the course of a career struck in the full force of the age.
After being denied this opportunity in Italy, Eriksen had been released from his contract at Inter Milan and had finally signed a deal with promoted Brentford until the end of the season. He has already played three Premier League games since the end of February.
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