It was 6:43 p.m. on Saturday, June 12, when Christian Eriksen collapsed on the lawn at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen, the victim of cardiac arrest during the Denmark-Finland match. From his half of the field, Simon Kjaer then rushed to his teammate’s bedside to clear his airways, pending the arrival of the medical staff of the Danish selection, then emergency doctors.
At the initiative of their captain, the Danish players formed a circle around Christian Eriksen during the emergency response. Simon Kjaer then accompanied the stretcher who was evacuating his partner from the field, who had been resuscitated in the meantime using a defibrillator. And it was he again, alongside goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who was there to comfort the wife of Christian Eriksen.
“No one has acted as forcefully as Simon Kjaer”, will write the Danish daily Politiken. But where did he get it? “Everyone wonders how he could have been so cool. But that day I saw the Simon I knew, testify to World today Mikkel Beck, his agent since the start of his career. It almost looks like he’s prepared for this kind of situation. “
“This concern for others is rooted in him and makes him an exemplary captain”, abounds Age Hareide. The former Denmark coach, who gave him the armband in 2016, delivers an anecdote: “During the World Cup in Russia, Jonas Knudsen, one of our players, became a dad. Simon then had the idea of collecting money within the group to pay him a private jet so that he could return home to his wife and daughter, before returning two days later to Russia. “
A leader’s soul
In this Euro 2021, the 32-year-old defender is on a mission. Too tormented to go to the end of the match against Finland when it resumed, the central defender then chained the remarkable individual performances against Belgium, Russia, Wales and the Czech Republic. Above all, he takes in his wake a whole team that we did not expect at this level of competition.
A leader’s soul that was already sweating when, at the age of 17, the young Simon was playing in the Loches tournament (Indre-et-Loire) with his team from FC Midtjylland. “I still remember that they won the final on penalties and that Simon scored a panenka on the last shot”, rewinds Mikkel Beck. At the time, the Lille club knocked on the door, then it was the great Real Madrid who invited him to try it out for a week. The Danish club finally give up their hope to the highest bidder, in Palermo, Italy. A few years later, the defender will sign for Lille.
In the North, the player with the blond hair left only good memories. “What characterized him was rigor, regularity and professionalism, underlines his coach at the time René Girard. He played with Marko Basa, it was what we did best in the central hinge in the French championship. “ The first of his two seasons at LOSC (2013-2014) ended with a podium, behind Paris-Saint-Germain and AS Monaco.
Great traveller
Like a good Viking, Kjaer has a taste for the open sea. During his career he traveled to Palermo, Wolfsburg, Rome, Lille, Istanbul, Seville, Bergamo and finally Milan. He has earned his starting place everywhere, except at Atalanta Bergamo and has probably just had the most successful season of his career at AC Milan, in a city where he also rubs shoulders with a certain Christian Eriksen. The friend with whom he spent a decade in the national team, plays in his rival club, Inter.
But a major European championship is missing from his explorer’s CV: England. Where his renowned compatriots made their careers: Daniel Agger, Peter and Kasper Schmeichel, Thomas Sorensen, Christian Eriksen, Andreas Christensen. “It’s true that Simon could have gone to the best English clubs, but he never felt it was made for him. He always had a preference for Latin culture and football ”, relates Agent Mikkel Beck.
Curious, especially when you know that Simon’s father, Jorn Kjaer, himself a former defender in the Danish Premier League who became FC Midtjylland steward, has a passion for Liverpool FC, which he tattooed on his chest. Moreover, in 2014, when his son crossed paths with Steven Gerrard during a friendly England-Denmark match, the father expressly asked him to recover a jersey from the legend of the Reds.
This Wednesday, Simon Kjaer finds England in the semi-finals of the Euro at Wembley Stadium. A walk in the final which will take place almost a month to the day after the cardiac arrest of Christian Eriksen. The latter, his wife and the six rescuers who helped save his life were invited by UEFA to attend the final. Denmark’s history at the Euro is already good. It would be even more so if Simon Kjaer were to lift the Henri-Delaunay cup.
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