Last January 26: The Italian media were unanimously convinced – Christian Eriksen on his way out of Inter. The midfielder, who arrived a year earlier from Tottenham, found it difficult to fit into the boot country and one of the most sought-after players in Europe, one whose name has often been linked with Real Madrid, was pushed to the edge of Antonio Conte’s bench and all indications are a near departure and career decline.
With all the criticism, the damaged confidence and the credit that no longer exists, Eriksen came up on the same date in the 88th minute of Inter’s cup game against AC Milan. The meeting that took place in the quarterfinals of the Italian Cup is remembered mainly because of the well-publicized physical confrontation between Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romulo Lukaku, but in retrospect it was a turning point for Eriksen. The Dane went up in a 1: 1 situation just before the end and in the 97th minute (!) Bought his world – with a huge free kick that arranged 1: 2 and in the end also the ascent to the next stage.
That point completely changed Eriksen’s season. A bench player is starting to get more and more credit. Tonight (19:00) when he has made a big comeback, the Danish star will step on the lawn in Bloomfield against the Israeli team in order to give his team a first V in the opening game of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, after a tumultuous year.
He also came to Ben Gurion Airport with the buzzer
As he did in that cup game, his arrival in Israel was at the last minute. It was initially reported that Eriksen will not be with Denmark in the game against Willy Rotensteiner and his players following a wide-ranging corona outburst at Inter, which caused the club to cease operations and “stop” departures for international missions.
A few hours before the departure of Denmark to Israel, coach Caspar Wilmand doubtlessly tried to put Israel to sleep, doubtless did not know himself, but refrained from saying whether my star would make it to the game in the end. That evening it became clear that Eriksen had indeed landed in Israel after receiving approval from the Italian authorities – and arrived at Ben Gurion Airport ahead of the game.
Conte began to believe
Back to the same goal in the 97th minute. After that, Eriksen started playing more and more. In the first 21 games of the 2020/21 season in Serie A, the contact recorded only 10 appearances in total, but since the same performance against Milan, everything has changed: 8 games – 8 appearances, of which 5 times he also started in the squad. Inter have recorded 9 consecutive victories in the league and are rushing to the championship and the end of the Juventus dynasty, and not since thanks to the Dane who returned in a big way.
“Eriksen has become the liaison prince of Inter,” the Italian Gazzetta dello Sport reported, adding. “The midfielder completely turned his career around at Inter after spending a lot of time looking for himself. The 29-year-old player who was strong on Inter’s transfer list has established himself as a guaranteed player in Conte’s squad. ” The midfielder and his coach benefited and especially the Narazuri who got back who was for quite some time one of the leading midfielders on the continent.
If we go back a little further, then 2020 is such that Eriksen will try to erase completely. The Danish connection was lost in the fashion city. Two months after moving from Tottenham to Inter for 20 million euros, he contracted Corona and was forced to evacuate from the hotel where he was in Lombardy, the rope that suffered many casualties in the plague. When he recovered from the virus and returned to training, he did receive credit, but over time the minutes he received faded more and more when at the same time it became apparent that he was unable to adapt to the boot country after 7 years in England.
In fact, from January until December he recorded just 31 appearances in all competitions with Inter and recorded a meager balance of 3 goals and 3 assists, a statistic that led to his dehydration at the start of the season when he repeatedly saw the link that included Arturo Vidal, Niccolò Barla and Marcelo Brozovic favorite. On the face of it, Conte’s method (3-5-2) seems to flatter a player like Eriksen who counts as ’10 ‘and often joins from the second line, but in practice the cooperation between the parties just didn’t work out. As mentioned, the big turnaround came last January with that great free-kick performance against AC Milan, which bounced him off the bench to the front of the stage.
The star of the team
Denmark dreams of achievements, and it seems that it is also possible. The local team is ranked 12th in the world in the UEFA rankings and has undergone quite a few ups and downs in the last two decades. In May 1997 she recorded her record achievement with the third place in the world, but 10 years later came the low point with the 51st and lowest place in its history. Denmark’s highlight was winning Euro 1992 but has not experienced success since the 1990s. Now, with players such as Eriksen, Martin Braithwaite, Simon Carr, Danny Wass and Caspar Schmeichel between the posts, they hope the talent will connect.
Quite a bit depends on the big star of the Eriksen team. The Inter midfielder has been third ever in the table of appearances in the national uniform (103) since he started playing in the senior in 2010 and when he precedes in one appearance the current captain Carr from Milan. The highlight is the legendary Peter Schmeichel. In addition, Eriksen is in seventh place in the team’s scorers’ table ever with 36 goals, 16 goals away from the first place where Paul Nielsen is, who played somewhere between 1910 and 1925.
Eriksen went through all the age groups of the Danish national team, having played in it until 17, up to 18, 19 and 21. At the press conference ahead of the game against Israel, coach Wilmand did not hesitate to declare who the big star of the team is: “Eriksen is the heart of the team, he has been important to us for a long time both on and off the field, so his arrival in Israel is great for us.” So yes, in the mark happy with the arrival of the star, Willy Rotensteiner has to worry about the “prince” who returned all the way from the difficult 2020 to the front of the stage. Eriksen’s tumultuous year passes in Bloomfield.