Paris (AFP)

A general phew: under pressure for their debut, England and the Netherlands launched their Euro mission on Sunday against Croatia (1-0) and Ukraine (3-2), in a weekend marked by emotion after the cardiac arrest Saturday in full match of the Danish Christian Eriksen, apparently out of trouble.

An air of relief hung over football Europe on Sunday.

After fearing the worst when seeing Eriksen collapse on the Copenhagen lawn, the whole continent took a breath to learn that the Danish attacking midfielder, saved by a heart massage, had regained consciousness.

He was in hospital in stable condition on Sunday.

The marks of support have multiplied, as in Bucharest where Stefan Lainer, one of the Austrian scorers against modest North Macedonia (3-1), invited Eriksen to be "strong" in the face of adversity, or to Amsterdam, where the Dane played for Ajax for a long time (2010-2013).

In the Johan-Cruyff stadium, many Dutch supporters paid tribute to Eriksen (29) with signs or banners, before vibrating for the "oranje" selection.

For its debut in Group C, the Netherlands team was scared: it led 2-0 thanks to Georginio Wijnaldum (52nd) and Wout Weghorst (59th), it was joined in four minutes on a skylight missile from Andriy Yarmolenko (75th) and a header from Roman Yaremchuk (79th), before winning with forceps thanks to Denzel Dumfries (85th).

- Sterling in his garden -

With 3 points, the Netherlands join Austria in the lead, which they will challenge Thursday in Amsterdam.

The defeated will face each other on the same day in Bucharest, where the modest North Macedonia will again be able to count on its captain Goran Pandev (37 years old), who became Sunday the second oldest scorer in the history of the Euro, despite the defeat.

In Group D, England for its part succeeded in its entry into contention against Croatia in its Wembley stadium (1-0), while awaiting the duel between Scotland and the Czech Republic on Monday afternoon (3 p.m., 13:00 GMT) in the other pool match.

The only English goal was scored by Raheem Sterling, who spent his childhood in the Brent district, in the shadow of the legendary London enclosure.

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"I had to score in my garden and I'm delighted to have done so," savored the English striker, who perfectly replaced his captain Harry Kane, very discreet.

It must be said that the latter, former teammate of Christian Eriksen at Tottenham, seemed affected by the mishap suffered by his former partner, to whom he paid tribute on Twitter: "Chris, I send you all my love, to you and to yours. Be strong, mate ".

This message sums up the emotion aroused by Eriksen's serious discomfort, one of the strong images of the start of the tournament.

- "One of the scariest moments" -

At a press conference on Sunday, Danish team officials said the Inter Milan midfielder "is doing as well as possible under the circumstances".

Danish national team doctor Morten Boesen confirmed that Eriksen had "been the victim of cardiac arrest" and that he "was + gone".

"This is why we had to do cardiac resuscitation", he explained, very moved, specifying that there was "for the moment no explanation".

While the Danish players, reassured to have positive news, agreed to resume the meeting on Saturday evening, which was finally lost 1-0 to Finland, their coach Kasper Hjulmand said, "with hindsight", that he did not shouldn't have finished the match the same day.

"It was one of the scariest moments of my life," Danish forward Martin Braithwaite confirmed on Twitter.

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According to Kasper Hjulmand, Eriksen "wants us to continue, so that's what we're going to do. We want to play for Christian," he said, ahead of the Danes' second game in the tournament on Thursday against Belgium. , one of the favorites of this Euro.

On Monday, other big names are expected: Robert Lewandowski and Poland, opposed to Slovakia in Saint Petersburg (6:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m. GMT), but also, in Seville, Spain against Sweden (9:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m. GMT) , two preparation teams disrupted by the Covid-19.

And as the coronavirus continues to threaten the Euro, it was the Portuguese Joao Cancelo who tested positive for Covid-19, abandoning the number of defending champions on Sunday before their entry into contention against Hungary on Tuesday, in a group F which also includes France and Germany, opposed Tuesday evening.

cbw-jta-jr-jed / bvo / gf

© 2021 AFP