13th June, 2021
Christian Eriksen may have played his last competitive soccer on June 12 if doctors confirmed he suffered a cardiac arrest, when he collapsed on the pitch in Copenhagen.
The 29-year-old collapsed on the pitch during Denmark’s Euro 2020 match with Finland on Saturday afternoon.
It was suspected his heart stopped for five minutes on the pitch.
The Denmark captain needed to be resuscitated and was stabilised by the time he was transferred to hospital.
The Mail Online has quoted Dr Scott Murray, a leading NHS consultant cardiologist specialising in prevention of heart problems, saying the heart attack may have spelled the end of Eriksen’s career.
Murray said Italy pride themselves on their record of preventing cardiac arrests in football – so the Danish player’s problems will likely spell the end of his time in Serie A.
He told the MailOnline: ‘It probably is (the end of his career) for him. The Italians stop people participating in sport if they are found to have a significant cardiac abnormality, it’s in law.
‘They’ve been doing that for a long time, beyond 20 years and they’ve reduced the death rates from cardiac arrests in sport from beyond 3 per cent down to below one per cent.’
The Inter star went to ground unchallenged mid-way through the match in Copenhagen and received immediate CPR treatment from medical staff already present at the stadium.
The match as postponed just after 6pm on Saturday evening and Eriksen was then seen sitting upright whilst being stretchered off with an oxygen mask on his mouth.
He was admitted to hospital and the Danish FA confirmed that he was awake, conscious and his agent Michael Schoots confirmed that he was able to speak and talk whilst receiving more checks.
Dr Murray claimed Italy, where Eriksen plays his club football with Inter, have one of the best systems in the world for checking and predicting potential heart problems .
He said the fact that Eriksen still suffered a cardiac arrest shows how dangerous and unsuspecting heart problems can be.
‘He (Eriksen) comes from an Italian club so he must have had all of the tests before he started. The Italians are the best at screening for heart disease in competitive athletes”, he said.