Eriksen excited to prove he can play after cardiac arrest

LONDON: Christian Eriksen says he has no anxiety about playing his first match since a cardiac arrest and believes a return to England was perfect after the incident last summer. The Denmark international has not played a competitive match since June 12, when he collapsed and in his own words was “gone from this world for five minutes” during a European Championship match against Finland. After being fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator days after the incident, Eriksen had to be released by Inter Milan in December due to rules in Italy preventing athletes from competing with an ICD.

He made a surprise return to the English Premier League with Brentford in January. Bees boss Thomas Frank revealed on Friday the former Tottenham playmaker will play in a behind-closed-doors friendly on Monday which could open the door for him to be involved at Arsenal on Feb. 19.

“I do feel in my head and body that the excitement is coming, the adrenaline is coming more and more toward game time,” Eriksen said on Friday at his unveiling news conference at Brentford Community Stadium. “No, if there was any anxiety I wouldn’t go back. “If I wasn’t fully committed and feel like I am trusting of the doctors, trusting of my heart, trusting my ICD in me, then I wouldn’t go back.

No, I feel 100 percent secure to go back.” Eriksen trained with his teammates for the first time on Monday but was familiar with several of them who are Denmark internationals. The 29-year-old Eriksen has previously worked with Frank in Danish age-group teams and yet had no ambitions to return to England before he suffered a cardiac arrest, having spent 6 1/2 years in the UK with Tottenham before leaving in January 2020. Unable then to play in Italy, he