Netherlands and Inter center-back Stefan de Vrij has spoken about the emotional reaction that he had to the health emergency experienced by club teammate Christian Eriksen on Saturday.
The 29-year-old Dutch international spoke to De Teleegraaf where he opened up about how personally difficult it was for him to watch a teammate experience a health emergency which could potentially have been fatal.
“I was shocked, I had goosebumps for ten minutes.”
After Eriksen collapsed during Denmark’s EURO 2022 opener against Finland, there was significant confusion about the player’s situation, and it was only later after a hospital stay and medical tests that his condition was confirmed to be stable and he was diagnosed as having suffered a cardiac arrhythmia.
The Dane has defied worries about the potentially tragic effects that he could have suffered by rapidly improving his condition, and has stated on social media that he is in good spirits.
De Vrij explained how indications of Eriksen’s good condition and morale were a boost to his own mood.
About Eriksen the Dutchman said:
“He’s really a great guy, and luckily we found out quickly enough that he’s fine, given the circumstances. We are very happy about it.”
“He seems to be fine,” de Vrij continued, “it was nice to see him again. I sent him a message, but of course he hasn’t answered me yet.”
“In the Inter group chat, he provided a positive update quickly, luckily we knew that things are going well.”
The Dutchman went on to talk about the way he was affected by the experience and how it impacted his own tournament preparations for the Netherlands’ opener against Ukraine:
“I had trouble sleeping on Saturday night, I was thinking about him all the time. It was a different preparation that normal.”
