DENMARK boss Kasper Hjulmand has blasted Uefa for giving his players a ‘tough choice’ after Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch on Saturday.
The Danish gaffer also slammed the decision to resume the Euro 2020 clash against Finland later in the day.
Eriksen, 29, needed CPR during the Danes’ Euro 2020 opener.
His team-mates looked distraught as they formed a protective ring around the stricken Inter Milan star.
The playmaker was eventually stretchered off the pitch after 13 minutes of intense medical treatment.
Remarkably both teams returned to the pitch at 7:30pm to restart the match which Denmark lost 1-0. Hjulmand said on Saturday they were given two choices: Resume the game Saturday night or play Sunday at midday.
It was reported Erisken had a Facetime call with his team-mates and asked them to play the remainder of the match as ‘he feels better now’.
But Hjulmand shed some light on the situation on Sunday and was not impressed by the position his players were put in.
He said: “I think it was the wrong thing to make the decision between the two scenarios in this case.
“The players didn’t know if they lost their best friend and they had to decide [whether to play].
“I have a feeling we shouldn’t have played, to just get on the bus and go home and see what the next days brought.
“It was a tough message that the players had to try and make a decision. I have a sense that it was wrong the players were put in this situation.
“I am really proud to be the coach of a team that responded the way they did. Football showed its best face. Team spirit, compassion and love is what football is really about.”
Denmark sit third in Group B after the defeat. They face first placed Russia next up.
And Hjulmand says some of his players will not be ready to play on in the tournament after the trauma.
‘PLAY FOR CHRISTIAN’
He added: “We will try to establish normality as much as possible tomorrow.
“Players have different kinds of shocks and traumas and emotions. For some of them the time will be too short to play football again.
“But we will try to reach normality during the training sessions and then do our best against Belgium.
“Christian was concerned about us and his family. He said he didn’t remember much and was more concerned about how we were doing.
“That’s typical Christian and it just shows his generosity.
“Christian is a hell of a player but what a person he is as well. He would like for us to play.
“He feels like he could go out and play and feels best when his feet are close to a football.
“It was good to see him smile and we’ll try to see if we can get ourselves together and play for Christian.”
Denmark’s sporting director Peter Møller said: “We all love football, but football is not the most important thing in the world.
“When a thing happens like what happened to Christian, that is most important. I totally agree the right decision was not to play the game.”
Eriksen’s former Tottenham team-mate Son Heung-min paid tribute to the Dane when he scored South Korea’s winner against Lebanon.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
