If you showed this goal to Manchester United supporters, with the player’s face blanked out, they would be forgiven for assuming it came from Rasmus Hojlund.
A clever, darting run off the shoulder and into the penalty area, controlling a flicked pass instantly before rifling a shot into the far corner. Emphatic, instinctive, and the mark of a true goalscorer. It was the sort of finish Rasmus Hojlund demonstrated on numerous occasions throughout a promising debut season at Old Trafford.
It wasn’t Hojlund who opened the scoring during Sunday’s 2-1 win over Slovenia, however, but his Denmark team-mate Christian Eriksen. The midfielder needed only 17 minutes to score as many goals at Euro 2024 as he managed in his last 51 appearances for Manchester United (one) across all competitions.
So, with Eriksen clearly still possessing the goalscoring talents that once put him amongst Europe’s elite attacking midfielders at Tottenham Hotspur, why has he hit the net only twice under Erik ten Hag for the Red Devils.
Christian Eriksen facing Manchester United exit
Of course the obvious answer is that with Bruno Fernandes in that number ten spot, Eriksen has had to play a little deeper at club level. Not so much a box-crasher, but more of a deep-lying playmaker.
Former right-back Paul Parker, meanwhile, wonders if Eriksen’s Old Trafford team-mates are to blame as well; United seldom playing the kind of quick, incisive football that opened up that Slovenian backline and left Eriksen free to combine beautifully with Wolfsburg’s Jonas Wind and thrash home.
“The goal he scored for Denmark shows that his form for Manchester United was dragged down by those around him and by the state the club was in,” Parker argues, in conversation with Danish publication Tipsbladet.
“His first touch with the chest gave him the opportunity to finish immediately. It was like watching a centre-forward.”
So, would Parker retain Eriksen’s services if the choice was his? Admittedly, no, a parting of the ways the right move for both United and their 32-year-old veteran.
Most key passes at the European Championships
“If Ten Hag is allowed to move the team forward and bring in the players he wants, I think he will say goodbye to Christian Eriksen,” adds Parker, a two-time Premier League champion under Sir Alex Ferguson in the 1990s.
“He will not be able to offer Christian Eriksen the regular playing time that he needs. Eriksen would, of course, like to play as much as possible before his time as a player is over. He needs to play regularly and he is one of those players who needs to be looked after as he gets older.
“If United want to move forward, they shouldn’t say; ‘We need Christian Eriksen’.
“And that’s not to be disrespectful to him because he is, without a shadow, of a doubt a great player. It’s not a label I throw around.
“But he’s been an excellent player.”
With only one year left on his contract and Man United pursuing young, athletic midfield talents such as Joao Neves, Amadou Onana, Morten Hjulmand and Youssouf Fofana, the Red Devils are unlikely to stand in Eriksen’s way even if the man himself has made it clear he is not interested in settling into that Saudi Arabian retirement home.
There is clearly plenty of bark left in this old dog, however. Man of the Match against Slovenia, Eriksen is also top of the charts for themost key passes at Euro 2024 with seven (WhoScored).