10 1GG Monday April 4 2022 | the times
thegame
To leave a player of the quality of
Eriksen unmarked is not something
Chelsea do often, but to be in charge
of shackling the Dane is to be given
the short straw, and so he very calmly
chipped the ball over the exposed
Édouard Mendy.
The Chelsea goalkeeper stayed
down afterwards, having collided
with Eriksen, and received treatment.
Eriksen broke away from the
celebrations with the travelling
supporters and walked back to the
six-yard area to check that Mendy
was all right, and at that very moment
not even the most ardent Chelsea fan
could have felt anger with him.There is no sign that the Christian
Eriksen fairytale may diminish.
Indeed, the Denmark player’s
performances are of such increasing
authority that part two of his career
could prove more influential than
what came before he collapsed during
the European Championship finals
last summer.
After Eriksen scored for his country
last week at the stadium where he
suffered a cardiac arrest in June, his
compatriot Jannik Vestergaard, the
centre back, was moved to declare:
“You have to be careful what you say,
but he was almost better than ever.”
And then Eriksen turned up at
Stamford Bridge, and Stamford
Bridge was ready to acclaim this
football-shirted miracle, but the
Chelsea players were not ready to
stifle his elegance. The upshot was
that the former Tottenham Hotspur
and Inter Milan midfielder ran the
show with calm quality, and not a
single player in blue was prepared to
shove, harry, trip, pull or jostle him.
Thomas Tuchel was spiky when
asked if he had prepared his team for
what it would be like to be part of a
Hans Christian Andersen story, but
when pressed the Chelsea head coach
Fairytale’s over. Time to
take Eriksen seriously
responded: “Absolutely not. We factor
in his qualities and his runs and his
passing ability. And as you saw, we
played with N’Golo Kanté against
him. We analysed this game and did
what we do.”
Given how beautifully Brentford
tore the European champions apart, it
may be worthwhile for the managers
of Thomas Frank’s team’s next
opponents to properly address the
Eriksen question.
When Eriksen took his first corner,
and he takes all the set pieces for his
team, the Chelsea fans closest to him
warmly and roundly applauded.
There was no compulsion for them to
do so, given that we have now all seen
him back on English soil for some
weeks, and the novelty value of his
being fitted with a defibrillator
implant has diminished.
Fans, though, want to show their
appreciation of what he has been
through, and most will have watched
footage of what were agonising
minutes of life or death, and so feel
part of his narrative. There is precious
little in football that unites supporters,
but goodwill towards Eriksen is
certainly one of them. What, though,
of the opposition players?
Last month, when Eriksen was
given his first start for Brentford,
against Norwich City, Brandon
Williams was ready to yell at the
Dane as he fell under his challenge.
But upon realising who had fouled
him, Williams hugged his opponent
instead. Nobody wants to be the
first player to scream in the face of
the fairytale man. Nobody wants
to be the first player to leave him
sprawled on the ground after a
full-throttle challenge.
As Brentford flooded forward in
the 54th minute on Saturday, Eriksen
made a central run, making sure to
keep level with Bryan Mbeumo, who
had the ball on the left. Kanté,
charged with keeping tabs on the
30-year-old, instead ran towards
Mbeumo, as did Marcos Alonso, as
did Hakim Ziyech.The Dane’s conduct while in the
spotlight has been impeccable. Frank,
too, is handling it well. The integration
of Eriksen — who joined in January
on a six-month deal — has been so
seamless that the idea he could be
gone so soon feels almost cruel.
“I think it’s no secret that I want
him to continue [at Brentford] next
season,” Frank said. “I know Christian
is enjoying his football and really
enjoying being back. I know I will
have to answer these questions until
the end of the season, so let’s see what
will happen.
“To be fair, I know Christian quite
well and one thing he’s good at is just
enjoying the moment.”
Eriksen has improved Brentford.
He has vision and accuracy and the
humility to play a dull, short pass
when necessary. His influence is
palpable as his team-mates dart
forward with intelligence, confident
that he will find them, or prompt the
pass that does.
“I think any footballer would like to
play with even better footballers
because that raises their level, and
Eriksen’s quality and his ability
sometimes just to find the safe pass
and then the killer pass, that’s
something any team will benefit
from,” his head coach said.
A year ago Chelsea lost 5-2 at home
to West Bromwich Albion but rallied
to defeat Porto and then march on to
win the Champions League. On
Wednesday, Tuchel’s side face Real
Madrid, hoping history repeats itself.
“I don’t think that we will do crazy
stuff now and give crazy speeches or
whatever,” Tuchel said. “We will do
what we need to do to prepare for the
next match as well as possible. It
doesn’t matter if it is a big name or
not such a big name [they are playing].
There are only tough matches out
there for us in the last weeks.”
Brentford, tipped for an immediate
return to the Sky Bet Championship
last summer, have become a far
tougher opponent than anyone could
have guessed.1
Rüdiger 48RATINGS
Chelsea (4-3-3): É Mendy 5 — C Azpilicueta 6,
A Rüdiger 7, T Silva 6, M Alonso 5 (R James 55min,
6) — M Mount 6, R Loftus-Cheek 5, N Kanté 5
(R Lukaku 65, 5) — H Ziyech 7, K Havertz 7, T Werner
5, (M Kovacic, 64).
Brentford (3-5-2): D Raya 8 — K Ajer 8, P Jansson 7,
E Pinnock 7 — M Roerslev 7, C Eriksen 9, C Norgaard
7, V Janelt 8 (M Jensen 82) R Henry 7 (S Canós 88) —
B Mbeumo 8 (Y Wissa, 85), I Toney 8.
Referee A Madley.
Attendance 39,061.Chelsea Brentford
4
Janelt 50, 60
Eriksen 54, Wissa 87ALYSON RUDD
RICKETTS’ PLAN FOR CHELSEA
The Ricketts family, one of the four
shortlisted bidders to buy Chelsea,
have said that they would never join a
European Super League if they were to
take over the club. The bid has met with
opposition from Chelsea supporters who
protested against the Chicago Cubs
owners outside Stamford Bridge before
Saturday’s defeat by Brentford. Joe
Ricketts, the family’s patriarch, was
accused of making Islamophobic
comments three years ago. Yesterday the
family insisted that they would “put
diversity and inclusion at the heart of the
club” as part of an eight-point plan.
It includes a pledge not to change
the club’s name, badge or colours without
the consent of supporters, to never
participate in a breakaway Super League,
to explore the redevelopment of Stamford
Bridge and to increase the number of
women’s matches played at the stadium.
Last week rival groups had been
angered at what they saw as preferential
treatment being shown by the club toward
the family after a meeting was facilitated
between Tom Ricketts, Joe’s son, and Paul
Canoville, Chelsea’s first black player.
Groups led by Todd Boehly, Sir Martin
Broughton and Stephen Pagliuca are the
other shortlisted bids. The preferred
bidder is expected to be presented to the
UK government in the week of April 18.Eriksen fends
off Kanté in
another hugely
important
display for
BrentfordChristian Eriksen had more touches than
any Brentford player at Stamford BridgeINFLUENTIAL ERIKSENDirection
of play