It took me a while to fall asleep last night, and I’m sure that I wasn’t the only one. Christian Eriksen, one of my favorite Non-Barcelona players, almost lost his life on the pitch yesterday. Thankfully, it looks like he’s out of danger. But I wanted to share my thoughts after this tough experience. Every once in a while, there is an event that makes the world stop and watch. And those few minutes in the Denmark-Finland match felt like hours.
The almost-tragedy yesterday took me back to Mark Vivian Foe and Antonio Puerta. I couldn’t feel better even after seeing him awake while going out of the pitch. I remembered how Puerta left the field walking, before the worst happened. But thankfully, it looks like he survived.
The Importance of the Defibrillator Machine
Huge respect for the players and the medical staff that were fast to recognize the severance of the situation. The referee and the players acted fast, and the medical staff started CPR. However, and without being a Doctor myself, it felt like the CPR alone would not save his life. But then came the Defibrillator and Christian Eriksen is still with us.
It took me back to my days as a Fitness trainer. When one of the the clients collapsed during a workout. The CPR we gave him was important, but the Defibrillator saved his life. There are places in the world where they don’t obligate places where there are big gatherings of people to use this machine. The event yesterday should change it, as this machine is literally a life saving device.
The right for privacy vs Money
In these days it’s fair to say that ‘Money make the world go round’. We see it in the Copa America that is about to start in Brazil, despite the Covid-19 situation in the country. It’s fair to say that the only reason that the tournament is taking place is the money that’s involved there.
Yesterday, we saw the cameras shoot the CPR on Christian Eriksen, and we could also see the installation of the Defibrillator on him. It took several minutes for the cameras to move away from that. It should have happened a lot sooner, as people all over the world, and children among them, can’t see a man fighting for his life on live TV.
Money should not be the only reason to do things. Thankfully, the players of Denmark did a good job standing near their colleague and hiding him from the cameras. Enormous respect for them for doing that.
The Schedule
What now? Once again we talk about the schedule problem, and its affects. It’s well known that the elite football players play WAY TOO MUCH for years. But the last year, with the whole Covid thing, made it worse. Most of the season, players played twice a week and sometimes more. The human body should get rests from time to time. And there were a lot more severe injuries in the last year. We at Barcelona had to cope without many players for large period of times. Players like Pique and Sergi Roberto had to lose many matches due to injuries. Moreover, Coutinho and Ansu Fati are still out and recover from their injuries.
And we can all remember the bad injuries of players like Virgil Van Dijk who is out of the Euro as well.
All the injuries must have a connection to the tight schedule, and I think that the collapse of Christian Eriksen yesterday is also related. I just hope that Eriksen will come back stronger and enjoy the rest of his life.
But I really hope that this event will make UEFA and FIFA make some changes in many aspects that has a relation to this game. Events like those of yesterday show us how football can make us all united, and it was beautiful to see that. But it’s a clear sign that there are many things that need changes.
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