‘I cannot stop thinking about it’: Jose Mourinho reveals his tears for Christian Eriksen following Euro 2020 collapse

Newly installed Roma boss Jose Mourinho has revealed that he cried after seeing the dramatic scenes during Denmark's Euro 2020 fixture with Finland in which star player Christian Eriksen suffered a medical emergency on the pitch.

Mourinho, who coached Eriksen at Tottenham Hotspur for two months until the Denmark playmaker's move to Inter Milan, has admitted that he was in a state of shock after witnessing the images of his dramatic collapse to the turf on Saturday's game in Copenhagen. 

Eriksen, 29, suffered a cardiac arrest moments before half-time in Denmark's Group B eventual 1-0 defeat to their Nordic neighbors Finland and was administered CPR on the pitch while concerned fans and teammates looked on. 

He was quickly moved to a nearby hospital, where it was soon revealed that Eriksen's condition was stable and he was conscious – with the player delivering a video call to his teammates from his hospital bed soon after his arrival at hospital, when he reportedly gave them his blessing to complete the game. 

The eventual defeat, which represents a significant obstacle to Danish hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages, was secondary in most people's opinions to the health of Eriksen – and one man who revealed his concern for the player was Mourinho.

The Portuguese boss, who recently agreed a deal to take over at the Serie A side after leaving Spurs earlier this year, told talkSPORT of his emotions after witnessing the terrifying incident on his television screen.

"Today, I cannot stop thinking about what happened," said Mourinho. "I think it's a day to celebrate, not to be sad.

"Hopefully football went in a direction where the organization, the protocols, the level of the doctors and the specialists [is optimum], and I also believe God was looking at football in that moment.

"Everything together made Christian to be with us, to be with his family, to be alive.

"It was much more important than football but at the same time I believe that it also showed the good values of football: the love, the solidarity, family spirit. It was not just about his family, it was about the football family. Football bringing people together."

In his first comments since the incident, Eriksen has vowed that he will "not give up" after his collapse.

"I feel better but I want to understand what happened to me. I want to say 'thank you' to everyone for everything you have done for me," he added.

In the hours which have following the incident, further information has been released as to the seriousness of the issue that Denmark team medics were confronted with at the Parken Stadium.

"He was gone," Denmark team doctor Morten Boesen said.

"We did cardiac resuscitation, it was cardiac arrest," he added. "How close were we? I don’t know. We got him back after one defib so that’s quite fast. We don’t have an explanation for why it happened."