In one of the scariest sports moments in recent memory (or long-term memory, honestly), 29-year-old Inter midfielder Christian Eriksen suddenly collapsed on the pitch while playing for Denmark against Finland in their opening game of this year's Euro tournament. The unsettling medical emergency, which can be viewed here, resulted in a delay to the game of over 90 minutes that honestly could and should have been much longer. Thank goodness, though, Eriksen is alive, and according to an early-Sunday statement from the Danish federation, he has been awake and is in stable condition.
Denmark team doctor Morten Boesen shared more information about the terrifying situation at press conferences both on Saturday on Sunday.
"We were called onto the field when Christian collapsed. He was lying on his side when we approached him and there was respiration and pulse," Boesen told reporters after the game ended. "But that picture changed and he then received life-saving cardiac massage. We quickly got help from the stadium doctor and we got Christian back."
On Sunday, he confirmed that Eriksen had suffered cardiac arrest and spoke even more frankly about how serious the situation was.
Thankfully, Boesen also had some slightly better news to pass along. He said that Eriksen, not remembering much of what happened, was mostly concerned about how everybody around him was doing.
"It was good to see him smile,” he said.
He added that Eriksen's tests have looked "fine" so far, and said that he'll be staying in the hospital for further observation as doctors try and solve the mystery of what exactly happened to him.
