Christian Eriksen: Daley Blind leaves the pitch in tears during Netherlands vs Ukraine | OneFootball

Anyone who witnessed Christian Eriksen collapsing during Denmark vs Finland won’t be forgetting the shocking scenes for a while.

The Denmark midfielder collapsed to the ground in the 42nd-minute of the Euro 2020 clash and required CPR to restart his heart after a cardiac arrest.

During the 20 minutes of medical treatment on the pitch, everyone watching prayed Eriksen would pull through.

The prayers were answered as images soon emerged of him leaving the pitch conscious, the world breathed again.

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Despite Eriksen’s seemingly miraculous recovery, it was still a traumatic experience for everyone to witness.

And more than 24 hours after the incident, one man was still clearly affected by it.

The Netherlands’ Daley Blind has suffered from heart problems during his career and has a device called an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) fitted.

In December 2019, he was diagnosed with heart muscle inflammation after suffering from dizziness in a Champions League match between Ajax and Valencia.

The following year, he collapsed to the ground during a pre-season friendly against Hertha Berlin.

He returned to training just weeks later and his form for Ajax earned him a call-up to Frank de Boer's 26-man Netherlands squad for Euro 2020.

And Blind started their opener against Ukraine on Sunday evening and helped his side to a 3-2 victory.

However, after being substituted in the 64th-minute, Blind could be seen in tears.

He later explained how he almost didn’t play the match due to being so affected by Eriksen’s collapse 24 hours previously.

"Yesterday had a huge impact on me," he told Dutch broadcaster NOS.

"Besides the fact that I know Christian well as a friend, the situation for him is terrible. Of course, I have also experienced a few things in that area, so that I had to overcome a mental hurdle to play.

"I had a lot of trouble with it, but I'm proud that I did it. Then all the emotion comes out for a while.

"I've definitely thought about not taking part. The images and the moment had a lot of impact and I didn't sleep very well because of them. I really had to overcome a big hurdle to do this.”

Daley showed incredible courage to even step foot onto the pitch, let alone play a role in his side’s victory.

We hope that Eriksen continues to make a full recovery and that Blind gets the support he needs.

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