When Christian Eriksen entered the field of play at the Johan Cruijff Arena on Saturday night, he had already done more than many Danish fans expected. And now, as the 30-year-old prepares to return to Parken less than one year after collapsing on the pitch against Finland, the scale and speed of his recovery is something which few are taking for granted.
There were moments in Copenhagen last summer where a recovery of any kind was no guarantee, let alone one which would see him return to the national team. He had, in his own words, “died for five minutes” after suffering a cardiac arrest, and the road to recovery has been far from simple. And yet, just nine months later, Denmark’s number 10 capped his first international appearance since that dramatic day by scoring with his first touch.
As dream returns go, the only thing missing was a Danish victory. Speaking to Denmark fans outside the stadium in Amsterdam - an arena where Eriksen enjoyed some memorable moments as a teenager in Ajax’s first team - Mirror Football learned that, for many, the mere sight of the talisman back on the pitch was more than enough.
On the train to the stadium from Rembrandtplein, where a number of Danish fans gathered before the game, travelling fan Jeppe shares his memories of the Finland game in vivid detail.
“I watched the game in a bar in Odense, it was horrifying to watch,” he tells Mirror Football. " I’ve never felt that tension and sheer disbelief among all the fans - from everyone being excited to just a black hole, a black pit of nothingness.”
“Everything stopped,” Matilda, another fan, recalls. “Nobody was talking. We saw him getting help, then we got the message he was dead, then we got the message that he was alive and he was talking in the hospital, but it took us about two hours to get the message that he was alive so we were all crying.”
There couldn’t be a bigger contrast to the scenes in Amsterdam, though, with fans of Eriksen’s former club joining his compatriots in wishing him well. Indeed, when he scores with his first touch, moments after entering the field of play, the cheer is just as loud as for any of the four Dutch goals scored on the night.
“It’s been great to see him back on the pitch,” another fan adds. “It was a bit emotional to see him back playing again, and he just played like the usual Christian Eriksen. I think that’s just his personality, just wanting to focus on football again.”
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Another of the traveling fans, Sebastian, has been drinking with two fellow Danes who he met for the first time on the concourse outside the stadium while looking for their seats. This has been the overwhelming energy - certainly around and inside the stadium if not in the city as a whole - with the friendly status of the match taking on even more of an impact with the shared attachment to Eriksen.
On the day of the Finland match, he had been in North Zealand, watching the game while waiting for his brother to DJ an afterparty. Quickly, though, it became clear no one was in any mood for any kind of celebration.
“Everything stopped,” is his reaction too, and he says there was no doubt that the rest of the planned festivities would be cut short. However, he is among the few who were not surprised to see Eriksen reach the same levels once more.
“It’s good to see him reach the same levels so fast, but he’s a professional sportsman,” he says. “The thing is he’s born and raised in Odense, so if he’s going to return to Denmark [it would be with them]. They thought about it, it’s super small for his potential right now but I think he’s going to go back at some point. I’m just glad he recovered so good.”
Almost all of the travelling fans will also be at Parken to watch the friendly against Serbia on Tuesday, having received reassurances from coach Kasper Hjulmand that Eriksen will make an appearance after returning to the fold .
Hjulmand is a popular figure with many of the away fans in Amsterdam, helping them warm to a national side who haven’t been universally popular in years past, and to ask supporters whether they’ll be at Parken for Eriksen’s home return is like asking them whether they’ll be at the birth of their own child.
“On the train here [we spoke to Ajax fans] and this impact is so much on the world of football, not just Denmark but all of the world,” says Kasper, part of a group of visiting fans who have travelled from Copenhagen and Aarhus. “It’s not like all of the fans will be opposition here, they know how much it has impacted the Danish national team.”
Expectations before kick-off in Amsterdam were kept in check, with many saying they would be happy to see Eriksen for just five or 10 minutes. However, having got a taste for things, and having seen the Christian Eriksen of old, emotions are likely to be running high in Copenhagen.
The goal would have been more than enough, but things could have got even better 15 minutes from time as Eriksen spun away from a challenge and hit the bar from range with goalkeeper Mark Flekken beaten.
This week isn’t about Christian Eriksen scoring or not scoring, though. It’s about knowing the Christian Eriksen who took to the field against Finland in 2021 is the same one who exists today. And it’s about knowing that, after all that happened last summer, he looks like himself once more.
