Daley Blind ‘considered not playing’ for Netherlands after Christian Eriksen collapse

Netherlands defender Daley Blind was brought to tears after leaving the pitch in his country's Euro 2020 game against Ukraine following an emotional weekend.

Blind is a close friend of Christian Eriksen, who suffered a cardiac arrest during Denmark’s match against Finland in Copenhagen on Saturday.

The pair spent three years at Ajax together, from 2010 to 2013, and the former Manchester United has also experienced serious cardiac health issues having been diagnosed with myocarditis.

“What happened last night has much impact on me,” Blind admitted.

“Not only because Christian is a very close friend of me, but also because of what happened to myself.

“I considered not to play tonight, I had to take a very big mental step.”

Blind’s own condition was discovered after feeling dizzy during a Champions League match against Valencia.

Blind subsequently collapsed in a pre-season friendly against Hertha Berlin.

He was then fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) to monitor irregular heartbeat patterns.

As Eriksen continues to be monitored in hospital, Denmark’s team doctor Morten Boesen revealed that the Inter Milan midfielder was “gone” before being resuscitated.

“We did cardiac resuscitation, it was a cardiac arrest,” confirmed Boesen. “When I got to him he was on his side, he was breathing, I could feel a pulse but suddenly that changed and we started to give him CPR.

“The help came really fast from the medical team and the rest of the staff with their co-operation, and we did what we had to do and managed to get Christian back. How close were we to losing him?

“I don’t know, but we got him back after one defibrillation so that’s quite fast. The examinations done so far look fine. We don’t have an explanation why it happened.”

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