It was 259 days ago that Mathias Jensen came on for Denmark against Finland at the Euros, replacing Christian Eriksen, who had been carried away on a stretcher an hour and three-quarters earlier having suffered a cardiac arrest. That substitution was leant poignancy by its banality, an ordinary act in extraordinary circumstances. What nobody realised then was that it was a substitution that would echo forward as well as back: it was Jensen who went off on Saturday as Eriksen made his return to football, the sort of coincidence that hints at wider patterns and things that are meant to be.
“If you take away the result, I’m one happy man,” said Eriksen. “To go through what I’ve been through, being back is a wonderful feeling. It’s been very special since day one. Brentford have taken good care of me. Everyone’s been really happy about it and everyone’s been really helpful.”
