When Christian Eriksen collapsed in Denmark’s opening game of the Euros three years ago, his unconscious body surrounded by his teammates as he received CPR, what then would have seemed a reasonable hope for the future? To survive? To lead a relatively normal life? To resume his career? Did anybody in those dreadful moments think he might play at the next Euros? Even the most optimistic, surely, could not have foreseen a performance quite like this. But football can be dreadfully capricious: brilliant as Eriksen was, it was not enough to deliver a win for Denmark.
Perhaps Slovenia, at their first major tournament since 2010, were slightly overawed. Perhaps the plan was always to bide their time. Perhaps Benjamin Verbic, who came on after 67 minutes, really does make that much difference. But for them, the final 30 minutes could hardly have been more different from the first hour and in the end,
having seemed at times to be hanging on, Erik Janza’s equaliser felt thoroughly deserved.
There has been a sense in recent months that Eriksen, at 32, is not the player he was. The Christian Eriksen we all know, he is no longer there,” the former Denmark midfielder Thomas Gravesen said. “Christian Eriksen doesn’t play football any more. Christian Eriksen sits on the bench and watches football.” But you don’t have to be playing with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator to be sapped by Manchester
United.
Away from the gloom of Old Trafford, Eriksen rediscovered the old dazzle. Deployed behind Jonas Wind and Rasmus Højlund, he revelled in what was effectively a free role, regularly dropping deep, constantly probing. Injury had robbed Slovenia of Miha Blazic, disrupting the back four that was such a consistent and formidable aspect of qualification which perhaps offers some explanation, if not an excuse, for why Slovenia seemed so open at the back.
From the off Denmark were able to find dangerous pockets of space, their movement slick enough to make their disappointing form since the last Euros seem baffling; the late capitulation perhaps offered a solution. A goal was coming and it arrived after 17 minutes, Wind using his heel to flick a throw-in into the path of Eriksen, who
steered his shot into the far corner. His set plays were a persistent danger as well, particularly his driven deliveries, one of which (after the corner had been half-cleared back to him) induced Andraz Sporar to hack a clearance into Jan Mlakar, the ball spinning just wide with Jan Oblak beaten. There was also one gloriously disguised
dummy early in the second half to feed Højlund. Recoveries have rarely seemed more complete.
Since abandoning dark green for being too associated with Olimpija Ljubljana, one of the country’s two biggest clubs, Slovenia have adopted white and a variety of pale greenish blues and bluish greens; anything that might be used to persuade you a toothpaste or a chewing gum is minty-fresh. Against the swathes of Danish red the effect was unfortunate, as though to be in the stadium was to be in a vast mouth, the gums inflamed and bleeding.
Before kick-off, the two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar appeared on the big screen to wish Slovenia good luck, which against pretty much any other opponent might have gone unnoticed. The Danes, though, responded with booing and chants for their own reigning Tour de France champion, Jonas Vingegaard. Denmark’s good luck message was delivered by the singer Malte Ebert; sadly, he appears not to have a burning rivalry with any Slovenian musician and the reaction from the minty-fresh army was of bewildered silence.
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Two years ago, Vingegaard surged clear of Pogacar in the mountains. Last year he took a minute out of him in the time trial on stage 16.The Danes seemed to have broken Slovenia much earlier on Sunday but, for all their domination, all their neat patterns, Denmark struggled to create clear openings. As Oblak made a fine smothering save to deny Højlund as he slid on to a Wind cross 20 minutes after half-time, the thought that it was the sort of thing that might prove vital seemed to grip the stadium.
Adam Cerar, arriving unmarked for a Sporar cross, headed wide. Sporar directed a left-wing free-kick into the wide netting. Benjamin Sesko smacked a bouncing ball against the post. For 65 minutes Slovenia had done nothing then suddenly they were counterpunching with thrilling intensity. The equaliser arrived with 13 minutes remaining, a corner skipping through the box before Janza pounced. The Gornik Zabrze left-back has scored only 10 league goals in a 14-year career but as the ball bounced nicely for him, his drive flicked off Morten Hjlumand’s backside and past a wrong-footed Kaspar Schemichel. Both sides, now, can consider qualification a very live proposition.