Christian Eriksen ‘FaceTimes team-mates from hospital’ and says play-on as Denmark vs Finland restarts after collapse
CHRISTIAN ERIKSEN reportedly FaceTimed his Denmark team-mates from hospital as he told them to finish their Euro 2020 opener after his distressing collapse.
It’s claimed that Eriksen asked them to continue after telling them that he ‘feels better’.
The match had been halted just before half-time earlier in the evening, after Eriksen collapsed on the field of play.
Upsetting scenes followed, as the midfielder received extensive CPR from the exceptional medical staff.
With Eriksen having been stabilised and taken to hospital, Uefa confirmed that the match would resume at 7:30pm.
According to AFP in Denmark, the midfielder was able to FaceTime his team-mates, while German broadcaster ZDF Sportstudio claim that Eriksen himself asked them to carry on.
The final four minutes of the second half were played, before a five minute break.
They then played out the second half.
Uefa also confirmed that the match between Belgium and Russia would take place as planned at 8pm.
Host Gary Lineker, when confirming that that match coverage would recommence at 7:25pm, addressed the mounting criticism of the BBC’s coverage of the incident.
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He tweeted: “We will be back on air at 7.25 on @bbcone.
“I understand some of you would have been upset with some of the images shown (we were too).
“Obviously these were the host pictures and out of our control. They should have stayed on a wide of the stadium. Apologies.”
Danish stars were greeted back onto the pitch by the remaining fans, while being applauded on by their Finland counterparts.
And the Finland players formed a huddle on the field ahead of the most unusual of resumptions.
Joel Pohjanpalo gave the visitors the lead on the hour mark, with his side’s only shot of the game.
The Danes piled on the pressure, with Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg unfortunately seeing an effort saved from the penalty spot.
Finland held on to win their first ever European Championships match, an achievement obviously overshadowed by other events.
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