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Football London
Football London
Sport
Lewis Pangratiou

Christian Eriksen opens up on 'miracle' Premier League return amid heartfelt Brentford admission

Christian Eriksen is confident that he will get back to the footballing level he was at before his cardiac arrest Euro 2020.

Eriksen was a free agent after he came to an agreement with former club Inter Milan to terminate his contract in December. He has penned a deal until the conclusion of the 2021/22 season with Brentford.

The midfielder collapsed during his nation’s Euro 2020 showdown with Finland in June of last year. He received life-saving CPR on the pitch and has thankfully made a full recovery.

He has since been fitted with an ICD, an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator, which monitors the heart and acts as a pacemaker if necessary.

A rule in Italian football prohibits the use of an ICD, meaning he was unable to continue playing in Serie A.

However, the 29-year-old has completed all the necessary medical checks and is fit to return to football, something he is incredibly grateful for.

"The first thing is to show the gratitude," Eriksen told BBC Sport.

"To the people around me, the team-mates, the doctors first on the pitch, the team doctors and paramedics and then at the hospital, to do everything and check everything.

"Then all the messages from people to show support for me and what my family have been through. It has been really lovely to see all the grateful messages.

"I am very lucky and I have told them face to face, I am very happy they did what they did otherwise I would not be here."

The Dane continued by explaining how thankful he is to the doctors saved his life.

"For me it was unlucky in a lucky place. I wouldn't hope anyone to get it, I never thought I would get it myself when it happened but in the place it happened I was lucky with the people around me acting so quickly. I was really grateful the doctors were in that place.

"It was lucky I had all the possibilities around me. They had all the possibilities to get me back as quickly as they did and I am 100% grateful for that."

Positively, Eriksen believes he's in a better condition now than he was before the incident, and he will do everything he can to reach the level he was at with both Inter and Spurs.

"I won't change my style of play," added Eriksen. "I have had the time to be disciplined for the last six months to do extras, so even now maybe I am in a better condition than before, just the football missing.

"I feel like me so don't see a reason why I can't get back to the same level."

Eriksen believes it's a miracle that he's able to play again and that he's relishing the opportunity of being allowed to perform in front of fans once more.

"Definitely [it's a miracle]. I think it will get more and more obvious the closer it gets to being in a real game - being in a stadium, being in a game, you get all the emotion and adrenaline from that."

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