Christian Eriksen played a key role for Denmark today, although his side could not manage to take any points from reigning World Cup Champions France.
The playmaker was deployed alongside Tottenham Hotspur’s Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg in a double pivot – a similar role to the one he has enjoyed at Manchester United this season.
In that role Eriksen was able to see a lot of the ball, registering 83 touches.
He certainly seemed far more involved than he did 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, both of whom were dogged in their midfield pressing.
Eriksen got his boots a little dirtier than usual in the midfield battle, engaging in four duels and making a couple of ball recoveries, as well as two blocks, as he contributed to a determined Denmark defence.
Unfortunately for the Danes, Kylian Mbappe was too good to stop on the day, as the Paris Saint-Germain forward netted twice.
Eriksen’s proficiency from set-pieces did help Denmark to an equaliser to Mbappe’s opener, with a well worked routine leading to an Andreas Christensen goal.
His creativity was prevalent in open play as well, as he played six successful long passes as his team looked to hit France on the break.
With three key passes – thrice the number of any of his teammates – Eriksen was Denmark’s best hope of creating chances.
But ultimately the Danes carried little threat, registering just two shots on target over the course of 97 difficult minutes.
Nevertheless, Eriksen showed his class in the second match of Denmark’s campaign.
They now must win against Australia on Wednesday if they are to have any hope of extending that campaign into the knockout stages.
(All stats taken from SofaScore)
