Christian Eriksen was “gone” before he was resuscitated after suffering a cardiac arrest, the team’s doctor, Morten Boesen, said in a news conference Sunday.
The Denmark midfielder is in a stable condition after he was taken to a hospital in Copenhagen on Saturday after he collapsed on the pitch during Denmark’s Euro 2020 opener against Finland.
“He was gone, and we did cardiac resuscitation. It was a cardiac arrest,” Boesen said. “How close were we [to losing Eriksen]? I don’t know.
“We got him back after one defibrillator, so that’s quite fast. I’m not a cardiologist, so the details I will leave to the experts at the hospital.”
The game had to be stopped in the 43rd minute following the incident and was resumed later.
“I know it’s very difficult,” Denmark boss Hjulmand said. “But looking back it was the wrong thing to make the decision between the two scenarios to the players in this case.
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“Players were in a shock condition. Players who didn’t really know yet if they had lost their best friend. And they have to decide between these two things. And I have a sense that we shouldn’t have played.
“I know it’s difficult. It’s just a feeling I have. Maybe we should have just gone on to the bus and gone home and let’s see what the next days would have brought.
“That’s just my feeling now, but I think it was a very, very tough decision that the players had to try to make a decision. I know it’s difficult, but I have a sense that it was wrong for the players to be given this situation.”
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said in a statement on Saturday: “Moments like this put everything in life into perspective. I wish Christian a full and speedy recovery and pray his family has strength and faith.”
