Manchester United legendary goalkeeper, Peter Schmeichel claims Denmark players were threatened with a match walkover result of 3-0 against Finland after Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest.
Eriksen collapsed on Saturday during the first half of Denmark’s Euro 2020 opener and was treated on the pitch before being taken to hospital.
The game was suspended following Eriksen’s medical emergency, but it resumed with Denmark thought to have given it a go as they fell 1-0 to their Nordic neighbours.
Schmeichel, however, opined that the match should have been canceled to avail the players time to deal mentally with the situation. But, according to him, palatable options were not presented and as such, did not think the players had a choice.
Asked if it was the players’ decision for the game to be restarted after Eriksen had been taken to hospital, Schmeichel said: “Well that’s an interesting debate.
“I actually saw an official quote from UEFA yesterday saying that they were following the advice of the player, the players insisted on playing – I know that not to be the truth.
“Or, it’s how you see the truth. They were left with three options, one was to play immediately and get the last 50 minutes played.
“The next one was to come in yesterday at 12 noon and finish the 50 minutes and the third option was to forfeit the game, 3-0.
“So work it out for yourself. Is it the players’ wish to play? Did they have any choice really? I don’t think they had.
“As you can hear from yesterday’s press conference, the coach, he seriously regrets putting the players back on to the pitch.”
Kasper Hjulmand’s men will face Belgium next on Thursday and the Inter Milan playmaker has been ruled out of the game amid reports of being in a stable condition.
