Key questions as Christian Eriksen returns seven months on from cardiac arrest

Christian Eriksen is back in the Premier League seven months after suffering a cardiac arrest at Euro 2020.

Here, the PA news agency looks at how the 29-year-old Denmark midfielder has been able to rebuild and resume his career at Brentford.

What happened in Copenhagen?

The former Tottenham midfielder collapsed during Denmark’s opening Euro 2020 game against Finland in Copenhagen on June 12, 2021.

Eriksen was quickly put on his side by teammate Simon Kjaer to ensure his airway was open.

A defibrillator was produced quickly and together with heart massage Eriksen was revived on the pitch.

Eriksen was technically dead for a few minutes before he was carried to the ambulance and taken to hospital.

Speaking to Danish media earlier this month, Eriksen said: “I remember it all, except those minutes when I was in heaven.”

What has been done to protect his heart?

Four days after Eriksen collapsed it was announced that he would be fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD).

According to the British Heart Foundation an ICD, which is the size of a small match box, is placed under the skin, usually below the collar bone, to monitor a person’s heart rate.

Thin wires connect the ICD to the heart, allowing it to monitor the muscle’s rhythm and send electrical currents if it reaches a life-threatening speed of beats.

If this does not work, the ICD will deliver “shock therapy” to restore the heart back to a normal rhythm.

No Italian job, though?

Eriksen was an Inter Milan player at the time of his cardiac arrest, having moved to the San Siro from Tottenham in January 2020 for a fee in the region of £17million.

He helped Inter win last season’s Serie A title but would never play for the club again.

Serie A rules prevented