sport news Christian Eriksen dominated France in hint at possible Man United role trends now
'There is an attacking player who even surprised me, and not just because of what had happened that could have been dramatic for him, and obviously it's Christian Eriksen... he has always been someone who has a remarkable technical ability... but the volume of games he plays, this ability even to recover is impressive.'
That was France coach Didier Deschamps being effusive about Eriksen's brilliance before his team played Denmark on Sunday night.
So imagine how he felt after Eriksen dominated the world champions in a 2-0 victory that very nearly delivered the Danes to the UEFA Nations League finals.
Christian Eriksen looked emotional as he applauded the fans at the Parken Stadium after Denmark's impressive 2-0 win over France in the UEFA Nations League
The Manchester United midfielder's stats were highly impressive during Sunday night's win
Even more remarkable is that Eriksen's form comes just a year after he suffered a cardiac arrest playing for Denmark against Finland at Euro 2020
There seems to be universal astonishment that Eriksen can be so influential and so relentless just over a year since that cardiac arrest on the pitch during Euro 2020.
Nobody who witnessed those horrendous scenes at a stunned Parken Stadium that night could ever have imagined Eriksen returning to a football pitch, let alone playing such good football.
Fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) device to regulate his heartbeat, Eriksen simply hasn't missed a beat for Manchester United or his country in recent months.
It'd be impressive given everything Eriksen has gone through if he was a no more than a bit-part player, perhaps making the odd substitute appearance as he took it easy.
So to have made such a fine start to his Old Trafford career while also being integral to World Cup-bound Denmark is nothing short of remarkable.
Eriksen (left) has started well under Erik ten Hag (centre) - but his Denmark performances beg the question as to whether he should play alongside Bruno Fernandes (right)
Eriksen has probably played more football than he expected since arriving at Old Trafford
His stats from Sunday night tell you everything about a player making the most of his second chance in football, let alone life.
He created eight goalscoring chances against France, completed 84 per cent of his passes, managed nine successful crosses, won four ground duels and recovered the ball no fewer than 10 times.
It was an eye-catching all-round display and helped Denmark to a victory that was sealed by goals in the first-half by Kasper Dolberg and Andreas Skov Olsen.
In the end, it wasn't quite enough to send the Danes through to next summer's Nations League finals because Croatia won 3-1 in Austria to pip them to top spot.
That came after Eriksen scored a screamer from 30 yards in a losing cause in Zagreb on Thursday night.
