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 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 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 easy is it 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, idon�*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. 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... 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 there. after what was a very soggy sunday for most parts of the uk, the weather has plenty more to throw at us through the coming week — not only heavy rain, but some very mild weather for the middle of the week, and then, some stormy weather later. and that could well cause some damage and disruption. on balance, monday is one of the quieter days, but that's not to say it'll be completely dry by any means — we've got cloud and showery rain sinking south—eastwards across england and wales, some brighter spells, as well. for northern ireland and scotland, it's a sunshine—and—showers day, some of the showers wintry over high ground in scotland. the winds slowly easing a little as the day wears on, temperatures north—to—south 6—10 celsius. now, as we go through monday night, we see a quieter interlude, but it doesn't last all that long. outbreaks of rain will return from the west

into northern ireland, scotland, western england, and wales. some snow developing for a time over high ground in scotland. and those are your overnight temperatures, ranging from freezing in the north to around six in the south. and then, into tuesday, this weather system will continue its journey eastwards, and some of the outbreaks of rain are expected to hang around for a good part of the day across some southern parts of england and wales. it will tend to clear to a mix of sunshine and showers as we get into the afternoon, and temperatures north—to—south around 5—11 celsius. and then, as we get into the middle of the week, well, things really step up a gear — and it's all because of the jet stream, the winds high up in the atmosphere. the jet stream is likely to be blowing at up to 200 mph or more in the core of the jet, and that willjust provide the energy to spin up deep areas of low pressure — this the first of those moving to the north of the uk on wednesday. this will bring some outbreaks of pretty heavy rain splashing in from the northwest, the winds strengthening all the while.

but those winds coming up from the southwest, so it is going to feel really mild for northern ireland, england and wales, particularly temperatures 12—15, maybe 17 celsius in east anglia — pretty extraordinary for this time of year. but it is the strength of the winds that gives most cause for concern. as this low moves to the north of the uk, we see this squeeze in the ice bars, there will be gales or severe gales potentially in the most exposed places. we could have gusts of wind up to 90 mph. already a met office warning for the northern half of the uk, the risk of damage and disruption through wednesday night and thursday.

welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore. i'm karishma vaswani. the headlines: ukraine's ambassador to the uk says the country may drop any ambitions to join nato, in a bid to prevent a russian invasion, as the number of countries urging their citizens to leave grows. we have a special report from the eastern ukrainian port of mariupol, which could be vulnerable if russia does attack. many here in ukraine still say they don't believe that president putin will invade. some, though, have come here to take up this basic weapons training. they say they want to be readyjust in case. canadian police say they have cleared the covid restriction protests which had closed a key bridge to the us for almost a week.