Christian Eriksen started his first league match on Saturday in Brentford’s 3-1 victory away to Norwich City to the delight of Brentford fans.
The 30-year-old ex-Tottenham Hotspur man started his first league game since suffering a cardiac arrest on June 12 and put in a classic performance in the middle of the park for The Bees.
Eriksen, who had his Inter Milan contract terminated as a result of Italian laws surrounding athletes with a history of heart problems, moved to the Premier League with Brentford in January to revive his career.
Having been playing bit-part roles since his signing, the midfield maestro finally got his first start and ran the game in classic Eriksen fashion for his new side.
The victory put further distance between Brentford and the relegation zone.
He spoke after the match with journalists and noted that everyday has gotten easier since his cardiac arrest and his fitting with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) device fitted days after his collapse.
Eriksen told BBC Five Live: “I think if you take the win with it, it felt very good. I’m very happy, pleased to be back playing 90 minutes because it’s been a long time but it went very well.
“Thomas (Frank) asked me if I felt OK to play 90 minutes and I said for me that’s no problem. I feel good, I’ve been training very hard and been part of the team for a few weeks, getting used to the system they have here of how we want to play.
“It gets easier every day and playing a full game obviously helps. Personally for me it has been about getting back to full fitness and being able to play football at the top level again, then let’s see where that takes me.
“Obviously, I am here to help Brentford to stay up and get my own football career back on track.”
It’s my life continuing, Eriksen says
Eriksen also stated that his time at Brentford has been good for him but that it is not a new chapter as many have called it.
“I wouldn’t say it was a new chapter, it is just my life continuing,” Eriksen reflected after his first competitive start in close to nine months,” the ex-Ajax Amsterdam man said.
“Of course I have had a bit of a setback, it has taken a few months, but it has been about getting my family really back together and being back to being a normal family again.
“Being here now, eight or nine months later, it is incredible. Thank you to all the people and family I have around me who supported me. I am pleased to be here.”
Brentford boss Thomas Frank said after the game that Eriksen was good to go to play every game until the season ends.
Brentford fans will hope that their new signing, with all his class, can be key to helping them stay up in the Premier League come May.
Elsewhere, Eriksen’s and Brentford’s performance subjected Norwich to a fifth consecutive defeat in all competitions and fans of the Premier League’s bottom club were incensed after the game.
They face Chelsea next on Thursday and take a trip to Leeds United at the weekend. Norwich manager Dean Smith bemoaned the schedule in his pre-match comments.
“We could play Chelsea here on Wednesday and have two days coaching before that, but the Premier League have decided to put that on Thursday so we get hardly any coaching going into the Leeds game,” Smith said.
“You have to deal with the hand you are dealt and we are doing that. We will keep working hard and hopefully we can turn some results around now and have some luck ourselves.”
