Christian Eriksen is back.
Just 18 months after the cardiac arrest, he is now playing in the WC.
– I am grateful that I am alive. Everything else is a bonus, he says.
It was images that made the entire football world hold its breath. During the EC premiere between Denmark and Finland, at the Park in Copenhagen, the big star Christian Eriksen was only going to receive a throw-in when he suddenly collapsed. Shocked teammates gathered around Eriksen, who lay lifeless on the pitch.
Emotional words
After a super job from doctors on site, who saved Eriksen with a defibrillator, the star was stabilized. Eight months later he made a Premier League comeback, with Brentford, and in March earlier this year he scored his first goal after the cardiac arrest. Now playing for Manchester United, Eriksen is poised for his first major championship since the serious incident at the European Championship.
In an open-hearted interview before the WC, Eriksen talks about how happy he is to be back.
– It feels tough to look back on it (the cardiac arrest) considering how my career and my life looked then. It’s a big contrast to sitting here a year later and playing the World Cup, he says according to Fotbollskanalen, and continues:
– It was my dream from the beginning and I hoped that I would be able to play, that I would be recovered and be able to play for the doctors. I am grateful for that.
READ MORE: New cheeky picture of Neymar before the World Cup – which arouses unexpected anger in Germany(!): “Arrogant”
“Thankful to be alive”
Christian Eriksen is not like other players when he goes to the WC. Winning is not the most important thing, and he says he is grateful to even be there.
– I don’t see myself as a player who is stressed, but now it somehow feels like everything is working out. I am grateful that I am alive. Everything else is a bonus. That is my motto, he says.
Christian Eriksen also believes that the love for football has grown. Whether he scores or not doesn’t matter as much anymore.
– Any goals are not the great achievement. The achievement is that I’m back and healthy and alive, anything beyond that is just a bonus. Just that I will get to play in the WC feels great.
READ MORE: The English giant coup in live broadcast against Fifa’s strange decision – now hailed by everyone: “What a hero!”