Christian Eriksen scores with first touch on Denmark return after cardiac arrest

Christian Eriksen scored with his first touch in international football since suffering a cardiac arrest at Euro 2020. The midfielder found the back of the net within two minutes of coming on for Denmark in their friendly against the Netherlands on Saturday.

Eriksen, 30, collapsed during Denmark's Euro 2020 opener against Finland last June and required several minutes of CPR and the use of a defibrillator. Millions of people watching around the world were unsure whether he would survive, let alone play football again.

The former Tottenham star was fitted with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) - which can reset the heart after a cardiac arrest - following the incident and was forced to leave Inter Milan due to Serie A not allowing footballers to play with an ICD.

Eriksen was signed by Premier League outfit Brentford in January, making three appearances to date. He was handed a recall to the international side earlier this month, despite missing the Bees' most recent game against Leicester with Covid.

"The national team are due to meet Monday and they are in touch with Eriksen," said Brentford manager Thomas Frank. "It would be fantastic to see him play for Denmark again. It was a big milestone to get him on the pitch again for us. It would be a big milestone to play for Denmark again after that it is just football."

Match of the Day host Gary Lineker was one of the first people to congratulate Eriksen on his goal. "Wonderful to see Christian Eriksen score for Denmark, 287 days after we all feared the worst," tweeted Lineker. "Marvellous."

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The Netherlands went on to win Saturday evening's game 4-2 thanks to a brace from Spurs loanee Steven Bergwijn. Nathan Ake and Memphis Depay also found the back of the net for the Dutch, while Leicester ace Jannik Vestergaard scored for Denmark.

Eriksen took his goal well, sweeping a low cross from the right into the top corner. The midfielder was clearly delighted with his goal, making it 3-2. He was congratulated by his team-mates, many of whom were there when he suffered his cardiac arrest.

It was also fitting the goal was scored in the Amsterdam Arena, the home of Ajax. Eriksen came through the ranks at the Dutch side, making 162 senior appearances for the club and winning five trophies - including three consecutive Eredivisie titles.

Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal and thousands around the ground applauded Eriksen for his emotional goal. Denmark's next game is against Serbia at Parken - the stadium where Eriksen suffered his cardiac arrest - on Tuesday evening.

"The first minutes will probably be played in Amsterdam and then the next step will be where everything happened - in Parken - on Tuesday against Serbia," said Denmark manager Kasper Hjulmand ahead of Saturday evening's game. "Then I think we are all back to normal.

"It's the next step in his career. The first step was to find out if he should play football again. He had a lot of tests and everything went well. He's there and he's back to the old Christian. The next step was to get him to a football team and to get a rhythm in his everyday life and playing matches. The next step is the national team again."