Danish soccer player ‘was gone’ before resuscitation, doctor says

Danish soccer star Christian Eriksen “was gone” before being resuscitated, a team doctor said, Reuters reported on Sunday. 

Morten Boesen also said in a news conference that Eriksen, who collapsed in the middle of a match on Saturday, suffered cardiac arrest. 

Boesen added that the 29-year-old Danish midfielder was clinically dead before being brought back to life by the team’s trainers using a defibrillator. 

Denmark’s team doctor Morten Boesen has confirmed Christian Eriksen suffered cardiac arrest and that ”he was gone” before he was resuscitated.
Boesen says ”we got him back after one defib. That’s quite fast. … How close were we? I don’t know.” #EURO2020

— Mattias Karén (@MattiasKaren) June 13, 2021

“He was gone. And we did cardiac resuscitation. And it was cardiac arrest,” Boesen said. “How close were we? I don’t know. We got him back after one defib. That’s quite fast.”

Boesen also said that Eriksen was examined multiple times at a hospital but the cause of his collapse remains unknown.  

Eriksen, who recently won a league championship with Serie A club Inter Milan, collapsed at the 42 minute of his team’s EURO 2020 opening match against Finland. The Danish soccer star was having difficulty walking as his team was getting prepared for a throw in. 

UEFA suspend the match due to Eriksen’s medical emergency but it resumed an hour and 45 minutes later with Finland defeating Denmark 1-0, Reuters noted

Danish football team coach Kasper Hjulmand said that Eriksen wanted to come back and play, even though he lost his memory when the incident happened.  

“He would like for us to play on,” Hjulmand said in the Reuters report. “He said he feels like he could go out and play again. Christian feels best when he’s got a football close to his feet.”