A friendly football match between Denmark and Ukraine was called off on Sunday after Christian Eriksen had a medical incident on the pitch. The game was stopped midway through the second half, and attention quickly turned from the football to the player's wellbeing.
Crucially, the early word on his condition was reassuring. The Danish Football Federation's team doctor said that Eriksen is doing well, and that as far as they were concerned he was okay, easing the immediate fears that gripped the stadium.
The doctor also offered an explanation for what had happened. He said Eriksen's pacemaker, which the player received after his cardiac arrest at the Euros in 2021, had been reacting to something on the pitch, prompting the decision to stop play.
The context of the match mattered too. This was not a World Cup warm-up or an opener, as neither Denmark nor Ukraine had qualified for the tournament. It was an actual friendly, and the incident occurred partway through the second half.
Once the decision was taken, it was acted on swiftly. The match was called off quickly and everyone left the stadium, with the Ukrainian players and their federation also in agreement that stopping the game was the correct course of action.
For those on the pitch, the moment carried a heavy echo. For Eriksen and the teammates who endured the 2021 incident, it meant reliving the trauma of that day, when a similar emergency unfolded in front of a watching football world.
The handling of the situation drew a deliberate contrast with the past. At the Euros in 2021 the match was eventually played on, a decision many in Denmark now look back on as the wrong one, which is why the quick call to abandon this game was widely seen as the right thing to do.