Christian Eriksen has been discharged from hospital and is “doing well” following his collapse during Denmark’s friendly with Ukraine on Sunday. The former Manchester United midfielder was briefly unconscious and the match was abandoned.
There was huge concern for the 34-year-old, who suffered a cardiac arrest in 2021 while playing for the national team. He was then fitted with a implantable cardioverter-defibrillator device and was able to continue his career.
“I spoke to Christian this morning and he is doing well. He is with his family and in good spirits. The expectation is that he will be discharged soon and can go home,” said Denmark national team doctor Morten Boesen on Monday morning. “We take good care of the players and staff and are in contact with them on an ongoing basis,”
And Eriksen has now provided an update via a statement. “I want to let everyone know that I am doing well and that I am home with my family,” Eriksen wrote on Instagram.
“As you can probably imagine, receiving a shock from my ICD has had a major impact on both me and my family, but I want to reassure everyone that this was a different situation from what happened in 2021. I am feeling good, and my recovery has already started.
“In addition to being grateful for the support and assistance of all the players and the medical team on the field, I am also incredibly grateful to the doctors who have cared for me and my heart over the years.
“Thanks to their expertise, my ICD did exactly what it was designed to do: protect me when I needed it. For now, my focus is on recovering, spending time with my family, going on vacation, and playing football with my children.”
View 2 ImagesChristian Eriksen was taken to hospital after collapsing in a friendly for Denmark.(Image: (Photo by Ulrik Pedersen/NurPhoto via Getty Images))
He received supportive responses from former United team-mates David de Gea, Luke Shaw and Donny van de Beek, as well as ex-Inter Milan team-mate Lautaro Martinez and his former Tottenham team-mate Lucas Moura.
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Denmark were beating Ukraine 2-1 in the 65th minute when Eriksen collapsed. Eriksen was able to walk off the pitch by himself, but the friendly was abandoned.
Speaking afterwards, Denmark boss Brian Riemer said: “Christian Eriksen waved to his team-mates as he left the pitch. A few minutes before he fell ill, he had had a tussle with Ruslan Malinovskyi and I thought that was why he looked so distressed, but I was wrong.
“From that moment on, neither I nor the players on the pitch could have carried on with the match.”