- A doctor says
Christian Eriksen had cardiac arrest when he collapsed during Denmark's Euros game. - Eriksen, 29, suddenly fell to the ground in the 40th minute of Saturday's
Euro 2020 match. - Martin Boesen, the team doctor, says Eriksen was "gone" before being revived.
Christian Eriksen had cardiac arrest and was "gone" when he collapsed during Denmark's defeat to Finland, the Danish team doctor Morten Boesen says.
Eriksen, 29, suddenly fell to the ground in the 40th minute of Saturday afternoon's Euro 2020 match. He was resuscitated after medics immediately ran on to the field and was eventually taken to the hospital.
The match between the two countries was temporarily suspended but resumed later in the evening after news had returned that Eriksen was conscious in the hospital. The midfielder spoke with his teammates from the hospital and urged them to finish the match.
According to Boesen, Eriksen stopped breathing and did not have a pulse shortly after the team doctor arrived on the scene.
"When I got to him he was on his side, he was breathing, I could feel a pulse, but suddenly that changed and we started to give him CPR," Boesen said, according to the BBC.
"He was gone. We did cardiac resuscitation, it was a cardiac arrest," he continued.
"How close were we to losing him? I don't know, but we got him back after one defib" - defibrillation - "so that's quite fast.
"The examinations that have been done so far look fine. We don't have an explanation to why it happened."
Eriksen stable and speaks publicly for first time since incident
A statement from Danish officials on Sunday said Eriksen was in stable condition but remained in the hospital while tests continued to ascertain the cause of the cardiac arrest.
"His condition is stable and he continues to be hospitalized for further examination," the statement said.
"This morning we have spoken to Christian, who has sent his greetings to his teammates.
"The team and staff of the national team has received crisis assistance and will continue to be there for each other after yesterday's incident. We would like to thank everyone for their heartfelt greetings."
Eriksen himself released a brief statement late Sunday, thanking fans for their support since Saturday.
"Thank you, I won't give up. I feel better now - but I want to understand what's happened," Eriksen said in the statement, given by his agent to the Italian newspaper Gazzetta Dello Sport.
"I want to say thank you all for what you did for me."
Denmark head coach Kasper Hjulmand has also spoken with the Inter Milan midfielder, who he says is already in good spirits.
Hjulmand quoted Eriksen as saying: "I think you are feeling worse than I am. I feel as if I'm about to go training now, boys."
He added: "Christian is in good spirits, and it's a huge relief for the players after all this uncertainty. There is no doubt that we have been on the ropes."