• Simon Kjaer reacted in an exemplary manner to Christian Eriksen's heart failure.

  • His former teammate at Losc, Rio Mavuba, salutes the Dane's coolness and remembers the years spent in Lille by his side.

One of the great faults of the sports journalism lexicon is exaggeration.

As soon as one qualifies as heroic the stop of a goalkeeper from the end of the phalanx on his line, what words remain to salute the gesture of a player who, by his reactivity and his altruism , helped save a man and his dignity at a time as critical as the heartache of poor Christian Eriksen.

Simon Kjaer is not a war hero, no, he is a “legend”, as the daily

Politiken

writes

,

on the eve of the second group match against Belgium.

And it's already not bad.

"No one has acted as forcefully as Simon Kjaer (...) who swept over the pitch with a speed that his 32-year-old body rarely attains", before putting Eriksen in a side-safe position and clearing the tracks. air while waiting for doctors.

A recital to be shown in all first aid schools which impresses his former teammate at Losc, Rio Mavuba, who keeps very good memories of this young Dane who already had the makings of a leader.

What did you think of his heroic gesture and his way of acting in such an urgent situation?

Simon showed quite exceptional coolness.

Because not only does he think of the first move to rescue Eriksen, but he also has the lucidity to think of mobilizing his team to surround their teammate in a critical situation.

It's

(he blows)

… Awesome.

It is an act humanly in his image.

That is to say ?

How was he in Lille?

He's a real soldier, you know you can go to war with him.

And this act proves it even more.

It's a bit cartoonish to say that, but he came with his image of Scandinavian, cold.

But when you get to know him a little, you know he's a guy you can count on.

He was not the typical 22-23 year old, immature, who needed to grow up.

In the head, it was already a guy of 27-28 years, very organized in his days, who did all the recovery exercises.

He was extremely professional.

The great thing about having these types of players is that you don't have to worry about how young he is, whether he is scattering or not.

He had a great state of mind.

It seems that René Girard loved him very much.

How did that translate?

By a lot of appearances on the scoresheet

(Laughs).

Just kidding, his place, he deserved it.

He was a bit like the coach's son, who appreciated his reliability, there was a real respectful relationship between the two.

Is there a cool thing to remember from your stay at Losc?

Yes !

Once he had come home and brought truffles for everyone.

But at the time, I think people did not realize the scope of the gesture because the truffle was not yet too fashionable, it was not

hype

.

He had brought some for everyone and I found it super classy.

(He asks his wife a question)

.

Yes, there you go, he spun a bag for each player.

Even my wife remembers it!

And in the field?

Are you happy to have Kjaer behind you when you are a midfielder?

Ah, well of course.

I was happy to have him behind me because I knew that if it passed, he was there to cover me.

And then I knew that if he made a mistake, it would be the only one of the year.

On top of that he was a leader in his behavior, in his example.

He didn't speak much because of the language barrier, but when he did, he was listened to.

You speak of a leader.

AC Milan intends to give him the armband after what he did for Eriksen.

Logical?

He is a captain at heart, he is exemplary.

I think this is a very good thing.

He is efficient and he can easily be captain of a big club like AC Milan.

It has the scale.

Sport

Euro 2021: From his hospital bed, Christian Eriksen says "to be fine despite the circumstances"

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