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after extra time in the final of the club world cup. footballer christian eriksen made headlines around the world when he collapsed on the pitch while playing for denmark in the euro 2020 football championship. now with a heart—starting device, he is back in the premier league with brentford. in an interview with bbc sports editor dan roan, he reflects on his life over the past eight months and his plans for the future. they were the shocking scenes that left football fearing the worst. the cardiac arrest suffered by christian eriksen during last summer's euros was among the most distressing moments the sport has witnessed. but with the world watching on, the denmark star survived, and eight months on, he's now been handed the chance of a remarkable return with brentford. fresh from training and in his first interview since signing for the premier league club, he told me just how much it meant to be back doing what he loves. first of all, very happy to be

able to do it again, to be able to play football, obviously, and be involved and be the professional footballer that i was before that happened, so, no, i'm very happy, very pleased that it's possible now so it's, yeah, it's been some tough months, but i'm happy where i am now. how grateful are you to brentford for bringing you here, giving you this chance? 0h, a lot. i mean, it's, for me and for my family, for this next six months really was the perfect situation. we pretty much know the area. it's close to where we were for many years in north london. just how special do you think it will be to play that first match again? 0h, very special. i mean, it's been a long build—up and it still is going to be a long build—up. even from day to day, it feels like it's getting closer and then be patient, of course, for the right timing. but it's going to be very special to be here, to be able to walk out on the pitch and play a match again after probably, at the time, seven or eight months after it

happened so, yeah, it's going to be... ..going to be amazing. just going back to the moment. can you can you remember what happened in the seconds before that collapse? yeah. i can remember everything apart from the... ..apart from the five minutes. i was told afterwards it was five minutes. otherwise, i do remember everything on the throw—in, the ball hitting my knee and then... and obviously i don't know what happened after. and then i wake up with people around me. i feel a pressure on my chest, trying to get my breathing back and then i wake up, open my eyes and i see people around me. i didn't really understand what's going on. obviously, i wouldn't. at that time, i had no idea what had happened. and then, of course, everything goes through my head of something happened with my legs, did i break my back? can i lift my leg up? can i do anything? small things trying to do straightaway to see what happened. and then first in the ambulance, i heard someone say, how long was i out for? and then they said,

"around five minutes". and then that's the first time i heard that i was gone. and what did you think at that moment when you realised what had happened? weird, still didn't believe it. i didn't believe that was me, and obviously because i was back, and i didn't feel any. ..anything from it. i didn't have anything, i didn't have any disability or anything afterwards, so i was lucky that i got... ..obviously i got back so quickly and nothing extra happened to me so, yeah, it was weird. it was very weird, and something that wasn't really real for me. you said, i think, that you effectively were dead forfive minutes, you said. what do you mean by that? as you say it. i mean, i was gone, what i've heard, from... ..from this world for five minutes until they got my heartbeat back. how fortunate do you think you are? because obviously many people who have that experience may not be in a stadium, they may not have experts nearby, and every minute is crucial, of course. do you feel very blessed, very lucky

to have been in that position? or do you feel unlucky that it happened at all? which of those emotions do you feel most? no, i think, of course, it's like you say it is. for me, it was unlucky in a lucky place. first of all, i wouldn't hope anyone to get it like i did. i would never have thought i would get it myself when it happened, but obviously in the place it happened, i was lucky with the people around me acting so quickly and the doctors there to save me that quickly so, yeah, like before, i'm really grateful they were in that place. and then again, it is lucky that i had all the possibilities around me to get... they had all the possibilities to get me back as quick as they did and, yeah, 100% i'm gratefulfor that. what are your emotions towards your team—mates who memorably protected you in that moment? and i think many, many people around the world were very touched by the way they responded to what was a very difficult moment for those guys as well. i mean, what can you say about them? no, i've seen them a few times.

i'm still in contact with a lot of them, of course, it's the national team, guys i've been with for many, many years, so i know them very well. even some of them are here at brentford, obviously. but, no, i even saw them after it happened, a few days after. i know how they reacted and it was impressive that they, first of all, impressive that they were able to continue the tournament and do as well as they did. and first, of course, i was also thanking them for everything they did on the pitch for me at the time. but yeah, no, i have a very good relationship with everyone from denmark, obviously so, no, it's my, i would say, my second or third family. and your first family — how important was their support to you? because there must have been times, i assume, when it was difficult. you must have got down on occasions when you thought, "i don't know if i can do this," so how vital were they? yeah, to be honest, i didn't really go down as i didn't want to do that, so i was really determined taking

step by step from the plan that i made with the doctor at the time of my progress and the different phases i had to go through to get everything tested, so it's really a slow build—up, take all the time to get tested properly, and obviously the family on the side was very supportive. they knew that i wanted to try to go back and get the green light if it was possible. but i also know that they would know if something did happen in the meantime and something got worse, yeah, then i wouldn't continue. so yeah, i love my support and i love my family from what they're going through now and even what they went through before. and how much does it mean to you the outpouring of support that you received from across football, but also across the world as well? how heartening was that? yeah, very. i mean, it's weird, like you're getting some flowers as a token for something that obviously you wouldn't want to happen, but i'm here and then it's also a nice thought, but in the end, i'm still here,

you don't need to give me flowers. nothing luckily happened, but, no, it's a nice touch from people to give all their letters and all the emails and whatever i've received, gifts, and i'm definitely grateful forthat, but luckily now i'm back to normal. is it sometimes hard to believe, still, what did occur that day? yeah, definitely. definitely. it's a bit out of the world experience, weird because it actually did happen and i was where i was, and to see where i am now, then it's very weird. did you fear your career was over? because there were experts saying that you would never play football again. no, i think a lot of people have a lot of opinions without things they know of. and, no, i think for me, of course, obviously when it happened and the first few days after, i didn't think about playing again, of course, because i didn't know what was going on and i wanted to get all the tests done and get to talk with all the doctors and see

what's a possibility and what is not. but then ever since, after, i think, less than a week, then they said, "yeah, you have an icd, but otherwise nothing has changed. you can continue like a normal life, and there's no limits to what you want to do". as you say, you've been fitted with this ingenious device, this icd or implantable cardioverter defibrillator, which effectively would start your heart if there was an issue. mentally, is it hard to not worry about the physical contact in a full premier league match? it's obviously a physical league. how is he going to be sort of overcome that nervousness when you resume? i mean, are you getting those challenges already in training? yeah, easy. i don't really have any scared feelings about it. i don't feel my icd, so i don't really... if i get hit, i know it's safe enough. and yeah, i don't... no, i don't really. i'm not scared of the challenges ahead and the touches and the volleys in the game, no. and is there some risk, inevitably, to try what you are doing?

because obviously in italy, they didn't allow you to resume your career and they must have concerns about that. are you prepared to have some risk here? i don't see any risk, no. i have an icd. if anything would happen, then i'm safe. are there, at times, however, christian, where it almost feels like something of a miracle that you're in this position able to resume your career? yeah, definitely. i think it'll get more and more obvious the closer we get to a real game, being in the stadium and being around playing a game, get all the emotion, adrenaline from that. that is definitely going to be thinking back of something that happened and also something that, probably, hopefully, it didn't happen, but it did. yeah, that's going to be, it's going to be weird to look back at. have the experts told you why it happened? have you been given an explanation? yeah.

it's, of course it happened as, luckily, a one—time, but the diagnosis, exactly, i know it's nothing with the family and nothing in the history, and i've done all the tests, so for me now with a diagnosis, i think it's still just looking forward. i'm doing everything i can to do to get a positive forward. i'm not really looking back at what happened and now i've been cleared to do everything from the doctors so, in that sense, for me, it doesn't really matter what was the reason. now, continuously, i've been given the green light that everything is ok for the future. your situation, your experience has raised the profile of the campaign for more defibrillators in schools and in workplaces and in the street. how much do you want this to help people in the future? it's a good thing from a bad thing that happened that people are more used, or not more used to it, more acknowledging and more capable of being able to save someone, so i think it's from a negative side, it's turning into something positive that will hopefully save a lot of other people. we were introduced to this

situation ten years ago in england when a player, fabrice muamba, collapsed playing for bolton, and sadly, he had to retire. obviously, you're carrying on. how special is the fact that you are playing on, do you think? yeah, i think what i've heard often that i'm going to be the first with an icd playing in the premier league. that's incredible, right? yeah, no, it is. i mean, it's just... i mean, that'sjust the technology part is incredible that it's possible. you can see with everyone it's a different diagnosis and it's different... ..different things that comes in place so, yeah, no, i'm, again, lucky that i'm capable of and able to come back. has it changed you as a man? no. i think i see my family in a different view compared to how i loved my family before, but even now i think i love them more. and just finally, you're back here in london where you had seven fantastic years at spurs where you established yourself as one of the best midfielders in the world. you have a huge amount of respect here from fans of all clubs, especially now.

do you believe you can get back to that same level that you were at before the incident happened? to get back to the level, of course, i'll do everything i can to get back, and even i now have the time to be disciplined for the last six months to do extras so, even now, i'm maybe in a better condition than i was before. then it's just the football missing, but, no, ifeel like me like before, so i don't see any reason why i couldn't get back to the same level. christian, thanks so much for your time. i wish you all the very best. you're welcome, thank you. thank you. eriksen could now face a relegation scrap with his new club. but for him, simply playing again would crown one of football's greatest comebacks. hello and welcome to sportsday. in his 100th international, dan biggar wins it for wales

as scotland are beaten on a thrilling day in the six nations. the european champions become the world champions — chelsea are now one of the few clubs to win every major trophy. but still no medals for team gb in beijing, as they miss out in the skeleton for the first time in 20 years. welcome along, thank you forjoining us. two cracking six nations matches to start with tonight. in cardiff, wales fans got the performance and result they were hoping for as they recovered from their opening day defeat and edged out scotland, whilst it was just as pulsating in paris where ireland were ultimately beaten by france who made it two wins from two. our sports correspondent

joe wilson reports. well, it is a cardiff with all of the atmosphere one stadium could summon. but for the welsh players, the captain, would that be enough? because at the visitors were scotland, england beating scotland. a winger out of the gap, just a glamour, enough for him. you can dive for the line like that or you can pirouette like this. with the weight of the forwards behind him, tomas francis. half—time 14—14. now look at finn russell's arm here. the officials decided the scottish player knocked the ball on deliberately, yellow card. wales with a man advantage although the scores were level. dan biggar, 100 international, tries the drop goal. the match—winning points. yes, wales are back. it has been a difficult week, we have had to put up with a

lot of flak, rightly so, but to come back here with this crowd, grind a result it,