Danish national team manager Kasper Hjulmand has sang the praises of national team stalwarts Inter’s Christian Eriksen and AC Milan’s Simon Kjaer with both players just one international cap away from having represented Denmark on 100 occasions.
Both players have 99 caps to their name and are widely expected to hit the 100 mark on Wednesday night when Denmark take on England away from home in the UEFA Nations League.
“It’s a huge big thing. Let’s get the match over and hope that they reach the 100 matches, but it is clear that when you reach 100 national matches, you bring yourself completely up among the greatest national team players of all time,” Hjulmand began an interview with Danish news outlet bt.dk.
Hjulmand, who has been in charge of Denmark since the middle of this year, then went on to speak about how different the two players are and how humble they are despite all their achievements.
“They are two very different types of people. What they have in common though is that they love to play and they love to compete and they are eager to become more skilled.
“They are down to earth and really good role models for young boys. They are both superstars in European football and at the same time completely down to earth and thinking of the best for the team. They are super representative of what we are in Denmark.”
He then spoke on what he describes as Eriksen’s love affair with the football and how it makes him feel as a coach seeing it.
“For Christian, it seems like he has a slightly more playful approach. He has a love affair with the ball and when we are out training he comes with a ball in hand and keeps standing out in training so the initial love affair with the ball is still present and it makes me happy to see.”
Eriksen joined Inter back in January and has since made 28 appearances for the club, in which he has scored four goals and tallied three assists.