Odense (Denmark), June 9 (IANS) Danish midfielder Christian Eriksen has issued a statement a few hours after collapsing on the pitch for a second time in recent years. Eriksen was taken to a hospital on Sunday night after he had a huge health scare during Denmark’s friendly against Ukraine, after falling to the floor in the 65th minute as medical staff rushed to his aid.

The former Ajax, Tottenham Hotspur, Inter Milan, Brentford, and Manchester United star’s collapse came five years after the 34-year-old had suffered a cardiac arrest during the European Championship, although the midfielder confirmed that Sunday’s incident was different.

In his message to his fans, Eriksen confirmed that the implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), an ICD that gives the wearer a shock to either reset the heart if it stops beating, or to jolt it back into a regular rhythm if abnormalities are detected in his chest, had worked as intended.

“I want to let everyone know that I am doing well and that I am home with my family,” Eriksen wrote in his Instagram story. “As you can probably imagine, receiving a shock from my ICD has had a major impact on both me and my family, but I want to reassure everyone that this was a different situation from what happened in 2021.

“I am feeling good, and my recovery has already started. In addition to being grateful for the support and assistance of all the players and the medical team on the field, I am also incredibly grateful to the doctors who have cared for me and my heart over the years. Thanks to their expertise, my ICD did exactly what it was designed to do: protect me when I needed it,” said Eriksen.

“For now, my focus is on recovering, spending time with my family, going on vacation, and playing football with my children,” he concluded his message.

According to reports, Denmark’s team doctor, Morten Boesen, had confirmed on Sunday that Eriksen had briefly been unconscious following the incident. The match was halted and abandoned.

–IANS

bsk/