Nicolai Boilesen is talking to ESPN extensively looked back at the drama surrounding Christian Eriksen during the European Championship last summer. The defender, who has known Eriksen for about fifteen years and who played with him at Ajax, among other things, saw everything happen from the sidelines. Boilesen was sitting on the couch and was warming up during the moment when he saw his good friend go to the ground in cardiac arrest. The former Ajax player still has a hard time when the subject comes up.
“I have known Christian for more than fifteen years. Football is fun, good and important, but what happened last summer…”, says Boilesen in the run-up to the return in the Conference League against PSV. “I’m happy to see him play again. Whether he’s playing against the the Dutch squad or sitting at home with his wife and two children… I’m happy for him, he’s a friend of mine. But in the end you have to move on. Life goes on.” It was announced this week that Eriksen will return to the Danish squad for the friendly against the Netherlands on March 26.
“It was a terrible night,” Boilesen continues. “It started great, a European championship in our own country. It was the opening match. The first half hour was fine and suddenly your best friend is on the floor. I have lived, played with him, know his wife and children, father and mother. You know he is healthy, has played almost a thousand games. Four times a year you get a heart test and out of nowhere he lies there. Half an hour before that we were still laughing on the bus and had We talked about how great the tournament would be.”
Boilesen is happy that everything ended in a fizzle. “You are very grateful for that,” said the defender, who was sitting on the bench during the moment in question. “I was working on the warm-up and suddenly saw our captain (Simon Kjaer, ed.) sprinting to Christian. At first I thought he hadn’t drunk enough water. It was quite warm. But after a minute or two I saw between the legs that they were resuscitating. Then the world stands still for a few minutes. When he was carried away, we heard that he was there. A day later we were in touch via FaceTime.”