DPA
Stuttgart
Denmark’s Christian Eriksen made a dream comeback to the European championship with a goal but Slovenia spoilt the emotions by battling back to a 1-1 draw in their Euro 2024 opener on Sunday.
Three years after suffering cardiac arrest at the Euro match against Finland, Eriksen had a fairytale return when he scored Denmark’s opener in the 17th minute.
But the Danes were not able to contain an increasingly dangerous Slovenian side, who got a deserved equalizer in the 77th from Erik Jan?a in the first draw of this year’s Euros.
Denmark, the 1992 champions, will regret not having wrapped up the match when they had the chance, and missing the chance to take the upper hand in Group C, which has Euro 2020 runners-up England facing Serbia later.
Not ‘enough intesity’ “I think we played a good first half and after minute 70 we lost some energy. We didn’t have enough intensity, we missed a great chance, we got a little too passive,” coach Kasper Hjulmand said.
Man of the Match Eriksen said: “It’s always annoying when you take the lead and think you’ve done it, only to drop points in the end.”
Eriksen collapsed during Denmark’s Euro 2020 opener against Finland.
He received cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the pitch. The midfielder returned to football several months later after having a cardioverter-defibrillator implanted.
Fairytale start with Eriksen and almost a second The first dangerous action came when Benjamin Sesko’s powerful shot from distance in the 16th went narrowly off the post before Denmark broke the deadlock a minute later.
Jonas Wind acrobatically flicked the ball for Eriksen, who stretched his leg to finish from close range.
Denmark were close to a second goal in the 28th, after Eriksen crossed the ball to the area and it deflected off two Slovenia players, almost falling into the net.
Oblak with crucial save before Slovenia’s equalizer Slovenia threatened twice early in the second half before Jan Oblak made a huge save to deny Rasmus Højlund from point-blank range in the 65th.
Adam Gnezda Cerin attempted a dangerous header in response but the ball went just wide in the 67th, and Sesko smashed a shot from outside the box against the post in the 76th.
The equalizer came a minute later from a corner kick, which was flicked away to the edge of the area, from where Janza slammed a first-time strike which deflected off Hjulmand and into the net.
“When the ball came to me, I just closed my eyes and kicked with with all the power I’ve got. Soon another difficult match awaits us, but we have an open path,” goalscorer Janza said.
Slovenia coach calls for improvement Slovenia, meanwhile, will be glad to get a point in their first Euros appearance in 24 years and second overall, but coach Matjaz Kek sees room for improvement.
“In four days we have another game and there’s a lot of room to be content but there’s a lot of room to improve,” Kek said. “In the first half time, if we had managed a few more actions, if we were a bit more concise, and accurate we could have equalized a lot sooner.”
