"I was gone from this world for five minutes until they got my heartbeat back," Christian Eriksen told BBC Sport yesterday as he reflected on his near-death experience on that fateful day in Denmark's opening game of Euro 2020 against Finland in June last year.
The Dane had suffered a cardiac arrest in the Copenhagen stadium and was heroically brought back to life with the help of his teammate Simon Kjaer and the medics present, who reacted with timely CPR following his collapse.
"Then I woke up with people around me and felt the pressure on my chest, trying to get my breathing back. That time I had no idea what happened then it goes through my head did something happen with my legs, did I break my back?
"Can I lift my leg up, all small things I was trying to do to see what happened then in the ambulance I heard someone say 'how long was I out for' and someone said 'five minutes' and that was the first time I had heard I was gone," the 29-year-old revealed.
"For me it was unlucky in a lucky place. I wouldn't hope anyone to get it, I never thought I would get it myself when it happened but in the place it happened I was lucky with the people around me acting so quickly.
I was really grateful the doctors were in that place.
"I am very lucky and I have told them face to face I am very happy they did what they did otherwise I would not be here."