World Cup 2018: ‘Great things happen’ when you play alongside Christian Eriksen, Denmark’s shining star

You have to be quite careful when you ask a member of a supporting cast what it’s like to play with someone who’s much better than them. Say it the wrong way, and needless offence could be caused.

Thomas Delaney seemed to take things in the right spirit after Denmark’s 1-1 draw with Australia, though. It was a draw that came after Christian Eriksen, the shining star of this Denmark team, scored the sort of goal that only players of a certain standard can. More to the point, only players of a certain standard could repeat it.

“When you put a great player in a great position, great things often happen,” said Delaney, about his teammate. “That’s what happened today.” And with gusto.

In a World Cup that has seen so many own-goals and set-pieces, it was extremely gratifying to watch a piece of freeform excellence, Eriksen finishing off a brief team move with a half-volley in equal parts delicate and brutal.

What’s more he made it look so simple: Nicolai Jorgensen’s reverse lay-off was excellent, but it bounced in such a way that a good percentage of professional footballers would have been happy had they managed to kick it forwards, never mind get it on target. Eriksen’s effort was past Mat Ryan, one of the better goalkeepers in the Premier League last season, before he sniffed it.

Eriksen cut across his shot enough to keep it from flying into the stands, but somehow managed not to lose any of its power in the process. It was about level with his knee when he struck it, and rising: the sensible thing would have been to take a touch and make the whole endeavour more manageable. But there’s no need for that if you’re Christian Eriksen. Oh, and it was with his left foot, too.

When a team has a player like that, the temptation must always be to rely on him, to think “he’ll get us out of trouble.” Cesc Fabregas admitted as such, talking about playing with Leo Messi, in an interview with the BBC recently. And that was Barcelona.

The Spurs man is vitally important to club and country (Getty)

“It’s a fine line, not going with him all the time,” said Delaney. “The teams we’ve met so far know who is our biggest player, but he is not afraid to take that responsibility. None of the teams have succeeded 100 per cent [in stopping him]. I think we have a good balance.”

As with many with brilliant talent, Eriksen spoke about his goal as if it was the most mundane thing he’d done all day. “It was mostly instinct,” he said. “I just made the run into the box and luckily Nico saw the ball in behind and passed it backwards. Luckily I hit it very well. I was just in a good position, and I hit it right.”

Denmark are still in good shape to progress to the second round, knowing they could lose to France and qualify. But a victory over Australia would have removed all doubt, and there is still a nagging sense that Eriksen is, perhaps not carrying this team on his back, but giving them more of a leg-up than is healthy for a single player.

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Eriksen set up Yussuf Poulsen’s goal in their win over Peru in the opening game, he scored a hat-trick in their play-off against Ireland to reach Russia and got eight of their 20 goals in their qualifying group. Apart from anything else, in a tournament that has seen sides target opponents’ key players with rough tactics (see Switzerland on Neymar, or Panama on Eden Hazard), Denmark must be worried about losing Eriksen to a stray set of studs to the knee.

Until then, they must improve without the Tottenham midfielder. But if they don’t, at least the rest of us will still be able to watch his brilliance.

“I heard a few of the other guys saying I was smiling before I hit the ball,” said Eriksen. He knew he was going to score, and he knew how. Imagine being able to do that.