On June 12, 2021, Christian Eriksen was on the verge of death during Euro 2020, one thousand one hundred days later, the Danish footballer returned to participate in the European Championship and scored the first goal for his national team in the tournament taking place in Germany.
Three years ago, Eriksen was playing in the first match of the group stage with Denmark, against Finland, at the Parken Stadion in Copenhagen, when he collapsed on the field at minute 42.
Christian had to receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation and defibrillation to save his life. A day later, it was confirmed that he suffered a cardiac arrest and although it was thought that his career was coming to an end, the Dane never gave up and with an implanted automatic defibrillator he returned to the field just 259 days after almost losing his life.
"Three years have passed and meanwhile many things have happened. I don't think about it daily, I don't dwell on it too much. I just think about playing football and positive things," stated Eriksen in a press conference before the match.
Now, on June 16, he made his debut, alongside Denmark, in Euro 2024, in the 1-1 draw with Slovenia at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart.
Eriksen scored the first goal of the match at 16 minutes. In a throw-in, he brought the ball down with his chest and surprised the Slovenian defense with a crossed shot, beating goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
However, the Danes failed to materialize their dominance and at the 77th minute, they were tied by Erik Janza's goal, so the score ended 1-1 and both teams were left with one point in Group C.
Denmark’s next match will be against England on Thursday, June 20th; while Slovenia will face Serbia on the same day.