Everyone knows the brave patients who, shortly after a traumatic experience or a necessary operation, believe that they can "get up", no longer have to stay in bed and are actually needed at work.

"Discharging yourself" from the hospital is a sign of healthy hardship towards yourself. But it is negligent.

It is just as negligent to ask the members of a soccer team whether they can play if one of them has just escaped death shortly before.

And they had to stand helpless and stunned, with tears in their eyes, with prayers on their lips, as the paramedics fought for the life of a young, healthy person.

It went well.

The Dane Christian Eriksen was saved after he suddenly collapsed on the sidelines in the European Championship game against Finland.

The paramedics acted promptly, professionally and successfully.

They brought the 29-year-old back.

UEFA leadership lacks flair

The sigh of relief from the 15,000 spectators in the park in Copenhagen could be felt in front of the television sets.

The encouragement of the Finnish and Danish fans in the stadium, who alternately chanted “Christian” and “Eriksen”, spontaneously sending thousands of wishes for wellbeing, got under the skin and touched thousands of kilometers away.

It showed that the people in the stadium immediately understood what was at stake.

The UEFA leadership lacked this feeling.

She transferred her responsibility to the players when she asked both teams if the interrupted game should be restarted.

They wanted after the Danes had spoken to their football colleague in the hospital bed.

109-time international Christian Eriksen told his teammates to play.

For him, for yourself, for Denmark.

That is understandable. But it was wrong. Captain Simon Kjaer had tried to comfort Eriksen's friend Sabrina Kvist on the pitch, not knowing whether her partner would survive. Now he should lead the Danish national team. After twenty minutes he had to surrender. He couldn't concentrate on the game. Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel didn't look good with the only ball that hit his goal. He was in. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg missed the best chance of equalizing, he missed a penalty. Denmark lost the game 0-1. It didn't matter, they said afterwards, but it wasn't.

Before their second European Championship game against Belgium on Thursday, the Danes are already facing the end of the European Championship because they had to play a game traumatized and lost. "We had one of ours who was on the ground and fighting for his life," says coach Kasper Hjulmand, "that means that football becomes completely pointless."

UEFA should have recognized that. Like a good doctor who cheers up and calms the patient down, but still puts him in his place and orders him to rest when necessary. If all indirectly involved had had the chance to process what had happened for one night, to get great certainty that Eriksen is doing well in the circumstances. Then the new day would have given a new chance for a new game under undoubtedly better conditions. UEFA has a duty of care that sometimes outweighs the will of players.