SON HEUNG-MIN paid tribute to his former Tottenham team-mate Christian Erisken after he scored South Korea’s winner against Lebanon.
The forward’s penalty put his country 2-1 up on 66 minutes in the World Cup qualifier and he ran to the cameras holding up Eriksen’s trademark No 23.
Erisken, 29, received CPR on the pitch on Saturday having collapsed during Denmark’s Euro 2020 opener against Finland in Copenhagen.
His team-mates looked distraught after seeing the Inter Milan playmaker’s fall.
And Danish manager Kasper Hjulmand said some of his players were ’emotionally finished’ after the distressing incident.
Medical staff raced onto the pitch to give emergency treatment to the Inter Milan ace as his team-mates formed a protective shield around him.
Eriksen was seen conscious and sitting up on a stretcher while receiving oxygen as he was taken from the pitch just after 6pm.
Fortunately, the Danish FA confirmed Erisken is in a stable condition on Sunday morning but he will have further tests.
Son and Eriksen played together at Spurs for five years between 2015 and 2020.
Hassan Ali Saad put the Lebanese 1-0 up after 12 minutes at the Goyang Stadium in South Korea.
Maher Sabra put through his own net on 51 minutes to level the Group H clash before Son’s winner.
On Saturday, Denmark’s captain Simon Kjaer was hailed as a ‘hero’ after placing Eriksen in the recovery position while unconscious and giving CPR to his friend before medics arrived.
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’.
Denmark players returned to the pitch at 7.30pm to restart their match which they lost 1-0.
Danish manager Hjulmand held back the tears in his post-match press conference while talking about the ‘traumatic experience’.
He said in his post-match press conference: “It was a really tough evening, on which we’ve all been reminded what the most important things in life are.
“It’s meaningful relationships. It’s those people who are close to us. It’s family and friends.
“Everything, everything, everything – all thoughts are with Christian and his family.
“I could not be more proud of this team, who take good care of each other.
“There are players in there who are completely emotionally finished. Players who on another day could not have played this match. They are holding each other. It was a traumatic experience.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
