The fact that even Rod Stewart sent professional footballer Christian Eriksen wishes for wellbeing on his bedside is of course a hit - even if the 29-year-old Dane the British with the rough throat must seem like a pop grandpa.
In Copenhagen, near a fan zone, football fans put up a white wall on which they have been writing and painting graffiti and greetings for their national team ever since.
All of them cannot get rid of the pictures of how he collapsed on the pitch in the middle of the game against Finland last Saturday and had to be revived, and they want to do something for him.
In the meantime, however, he's feeling better, he says thank you personally from the hospital for all the good wishes, receives visits from his teammates and makes jokes.
On Tuesday he showed himself on Instagram with a smile and with his thumb stretched: “Under the circumstances, I'm fine.” He will cheer on the guys on his team at the next games.
"Everyone plays for Denmark!"
Psychological routines are of little use
This Thursday (6:00 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the European Football Championship as well as on ZDF and MagentaTV) the Danish players continue, the schedule is relentless, the difficult group game against Belgium is on. It still remains to be seen how frightened they are in their limbs. The psychological routines that competitive athletes usually acquire are of little use in this case, because they are primarily aimed at tuning performance and not at coping with a traumatic experience.
It is said, however, that they received help from experts. Top athletes are actually used to drawing strength from every experience, even especially from defeats and defeats. But no one draws strength from a shock, no matter how optimized it was mentally. Rather from the knowledge that Eriksen is speaking to them again, even if the cause has not yet been found, why he was torn from his feet so dramatically in the middle of life - the investigations are still going on, the consequences of the collapse are still unknown.
Coach Kasper Hjulmand has given the players up to play this Thursday. "It's okay if there are some players who are emotionally not ready." He made it clear that it would not be a weakness to admit that you can not concentrate again, but that it would be much more of a weakness to run against the inner constitution for the EM game. The following applies to everyone: Cheer up, Denmark!
All the signals that come from the Danish team testify to the exemplary team spirit. It is quite possible that the past few days have welded them together, that the circumstances will give them new strength. After all, they already have a common enemy: UEFA, which, in their opinion, put pressure on the teams on Saturday because it only offered them two options: to continue playing or to play again at 12 noon the next day. They agree and say it in clear words. From there it is not far to a common “now more than ever!”.