He started again with a defeat but for him, it’s a great victory. Saturday February 26, eight months after his heart attack in mondovision during Euro 2021, Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen played football again in the Brentford-Newcastle match (0-2). Exactly 259 days after the tragedy. The images of the Dane lying on the lawn of the Parken stadium in Copenhagen, surrounded by his teammates and under the eyes of the 32,000 spectators, had caused a wave of emotion in the world of football. “It was a special day. Everyone was there, my family, my parents, my children, my mother-in-law and a few doctors who helped me. What they went through is harder than what I went through. Brentford took good care of me. Everyone is happy for me and helped me. ” The following ? “You first have to find the sensations, the touch. And help Brentford stay in the Premier League. The Bees are 15th after 27 games played in the English league.
A standing ovation
In the 52nd minute of the match against Newcastle, he entered the pitch to replace Mathias Jensen. His Brentford team were already down 0-2 and had been ten against eleven since Da Silva was sent off after just eleven minutes. The match was already lost but Thomas Frank, his coach, kept his word to give the miraculous Dane some playing time. “If we put aside the result, I am a happy man, commented the Dane at the microphone of Sky Sports. With what I’ve been through, being back is a wonderful feeling. »
As expected, Brentford supporters gave him a standing ovation when he took his first steps on the pitch. Several banners and messages in his honor were visible in the public. In the stands, family and friends of Eriksen had also come especially to celebrate his rebirth.
Given lost for football, the 30-year-old Danish midfielder has, however, been deemed fit for high-level sport. He wears a defibrillator and had to leave his former club, Inter Milan, because Italian law does not allow a top athlete to practice his discipline with a defibrillator. England are more tolerant on that side and so Eriksen crossed the Channel to become a professional footballer again.
He therefore joined Brentford in January. Since then, he had played two friendlies against Southend, then against the reserve of Glasgow Rangers on Monday February 21, with two assists in the key, before returning to the Premier League attended for seven seasons at Tottenham from 2013 to 2020.