Christian Eriksen played a key role for Denmark today, although his team were unable to take any points away from reigning World Cup champions France.
The playmaker was deployed alongside Tottenham Hotspur’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in a double pivot, a role similar to the one he has enjoyed at Manchester United this season.
In that role Eriksen was able to see the ball a lot, registering 83 touches.
He certainly seemed much more involved than against Tunisia, where he was deployed as a ten from the start of the match, despite playing against superior opposition here.
With an impressive 88% passing accuracy, he coped well with the dynamism of Adrien Rabiot and Aurelian Tchouameni in midfield, who were stubborn in their pressing in midfield.
Eriksen soiled his boots a bit more than usual in the midfield battle, appearing in four duels and recovering a couple of balls as well as two blocks as he contributed to Denmark’s determined defence.
Unfortunately for the Danes, Kylian Mbappe was too good to save that day, as the Paris Saint-Germain striker scored twice.
Eriksen’s skill at set pieces helped Denmark equalize on Mbappe’s opening goal, with a well-crafted routine leading to a goal from Andreas Christensen.
His creativity prevailed in open play as well, as he played six successful long passes as his side looked to hit France at half-time.
With three key passes, three times the number of any of his teammates, Eriksen was Denmark’s best hope of creating chances.
But ultimately the Danes posed little threat, registering just two shots on goal over the course of a difficult 97 minutes.
However, Eriksen showed his class in Denmark’s second game of the campaign.
Now they must win against Australia on Wednesday if they are to have any hope of extending that campaign to the round of 16.
(All statistics taken from SofaScore)
