Denmark boss Kasper Hjulmand admits he is ‘very annoyed’ not to have Christian Eriksen available for next week’s FIFA World Cup qualifiers.
Inter’s players have been banned from leaving Milan until March 31 by their local health authority due to several COVID-19 cases at the club, meaning players have been forbidden from responding to national team call-ups.
Eriksen is not among the players to have tested positive – Danilo D’Ambrosio, Samir Handanovic, Stefan de Vrij and Matias Vecino – but this does not exempt the 29-year-old from the travel ban.
“It is very annoying to have to play without Christian Eriksen,” Hjulmand confessed in an interview with Danish broadcaster TV2 Sport today.
“He is a focal point and an important player for our team.
“He is an experienced player and an important person for the team.
“There are many restrictions, we will be hit hard by having to do without Christian and Kasper Dolberg for the first game.”
Eriksen is guaranteed to miss Denmark’s first qualifying match at Israel on March 25, but he seems likely to be unavailable for the second and third games against Austria (on March 28) and Moldova (on March 31) too.
Asked for clarification on the matter, Hjulmand said: “No, it is not certain that we will have Christian in the matches against Austria and Moldova, we have to wait and see.
“As the week goes by, we have to understand how things develop so it is not at all certain that he will be with us.”
Eriksen has made 24 appearances across all competitions this season for Inter, in which he has scored a single goal.
While he has only made one goal contribution, Eriksen has really turned things around for himself at Inter with him now being deployed in a new role to his natural role of attacking midfielder.
He gave an interview to DAZN today in which he revealed he now has a good understanding with head coach Antonio Conte.