Christian Eriksen, the Danish football player who collapsed on the pitch in his country’s opening Euro 2020 game, said that he was doing “fine” in an Instagram post from the hospital on Tuesday.
“I’m fine – under the circumstances, I still have to go through some examinations at the hospital, but I feel okay,” he wrote in a post accompanying a photo of him smiling and giving a thumbs-up.
He issued the thank-you message for all the support he has received since the incident on Saturday.
“Big thanks for your sweet and amazing greetings and messages from all around the world. It means a lot to me and my family,” Eriksen said.
“Now, I will cheer on the boys on the Denmark team in the next matches. Play for all of Denmark.”
Eriksen collapsed late in the first half of Saturday’s game. He suffered cardiac arrest and was resuscitated on the pitch before being taken to hospital where he is making a good recovery.
On Sunday, Denmark’s team doctor has said Eriksen’s heart stopped and that “he was gone” before being resuscitated with a defibrillator on the pitch.
“He was gone; we did cardiac resuscitation, it was a cardiac arrest. We got him back after one defib [defibrillation],” Morten Boesen told a news conference on Sunday. “The exams that have been done so far look fine. We don’t have an explanation as to why it happened.”
The 29-year-old is not expected to play again in the tournament but could continue his recuperation at home soon.
Denmark’s next match is on Thursday against the world’s top-ranked side Belgium in Copenhagen, and their final group match on Monday against Russia.
They lost the game to Finland 0-1 when it was restarted some two hours after the incident.
Former Danish internationals Peter Schmeichel and Michael Laudrup have criticised governing body UEFA over their handling of the incident.
The players were given the option to finish the game on Saturday evening or on Sunday.
