Denmark step up Uefa criticism: With Covid you can postpone a game, with cardiac arrest apparently not
Denmark's manager Kasper Hjulmand talks to the media prior a training session on Tuesday. Picture: AP Photo/Martin Meissner
Uefa failed to "lead with compassion" in dealing with the Denmark team after Christian Eriksen collapsed on the pitch during the Euro 2020 defeat to Finland, the Danish boss has claimed.
Kasper Hjulmand stepped up his criticism of the governing body after his side were given the option between finishing the game that evening or paying the following day - with no third option.
Hjulmand said his players were put “in a hugely difficult situation” after the incident on Saturday.
The game resumed after a delay of about 90 minutes after Eriksen was resuscitated with a defibrillator.
The Denmark boss said that another option should have been given to his players - especially with newly coronavirus protocols for the tournament which allow for a game to be postponed for 48 hours if a certain number of players from one team test positive for Covid-19 or have to self isolate.
"The only real leadership would have been to put the players on a bus and send them home. And then deal with it after,” Hjulmand said.
"With corona cases it’s possible to postpone a game for 48 hours. But with cardiac arrest, apparently it’s not. And I think that’s wrong. You don’t necessarily find good leadership in the protocols. Good leadership can sometimes be to lead with compassion.”
Denmark forward Martin Braithwaite said Monday that he and his teammates would have preferred a longer postponement.
”It was not our wish to play,” Braithwaite said. “There were many players who weren’t in a condition to play the match. We were in a completely different place.”
Eriksen, meanwhile, remains in hosptial but has said he is "fine - under the circumstances" as doctors work to determine the cause of his cardiac arrest.
The 29-year-old took to Instagram Tuesday morning to post a photograph of himself making a thumbs-up gesture.
