Eriksen incident left Danish captain Simon Kjaer 'totally out of it': Lukas Hradecky

Christan Eriksen collapsed during the first half of the Group B match against Finland and had to be rushed to the hospital after being resuscitated on the field at Parken Stadium. Skipper Simon Kjaer was among the first to rush to Eriksen's aid when he fell down and has been said to have played a potentially life-saving role in the response, as well as for how he made the Danish players form a ring and also comforted Eriksen's distraught partner, who went on to the pitch.

Hradecky talks about the Eriksen incident

Finland goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky spoke about the incident and especially Kjaer's role in the whole incident. He said that there should be a defined set of protocols for such incidents and that it would be very helpful to the people involved. He specifically spoke about how the players should not be put in a position to decide whether they carry on playing the match as they are in no mental state to do so. 

"Everyone saw, for example, that Simon Kjaer was totally out of it and still completely shocked," Hradecky told Goal and SPOX. "There must be a clearly defined protocol on what to do in such incidents. That would be very helpful to everyone involved. It must not be the case that traumatised players have to think about what should happen. Football is about people, as this case has once again clearly shown. They are the most important. So we need a clear rule that puts the human and not the commercial perspective in the foreground."

Praise for Kjaer and Schmeichel

The shot-stopper also mentioned his reaction to Eriksen's sudden collapse saying that it was just a terrible scene and praised Kjaer and Kasper Schmeichel for what all they did.

"It was just terrible. The scene itself looked very strange. Despite my distance from what was happening, I quickly realised that it was something serious. Christian was completely gone. You are simply not prepared for it and don't know what to do in such a situation. So I say hats off to Simon Kjaer and Kasper Schmeichel in particular, but also to all the other Danish players, for what they did in those moments."

A tough decision to restart the match

Hradecky then echoed the words of Denmark head coach Kasper Hjulmand saying that the players were given the option to carry on with the game on the same night or at noon the following day which according to Hradecky was not fair to choose from those two options as it was a very tough place to be in not knowing whether their friend will be okay or not.

"I think it was the wrong decision to make between the two scenarios," he said in a press conference later in the tournament. "It was very tough for the players. They didn't even know if they could probably lose their best friend. I have the feeling that we shouldn't have played and wrong that the players had to decide."

 (Image Credits: @Bayer04_EN/ @Simonkjaer1989 - Twitter)