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BBC and Gary Lineker apologise after viewers left distressed by footage of Christian Eriksen’s collapse: ‘It was out of our control’

BBC apologise
Viewers were upset by the footage of Christian Eriksen’s collapse (Picture: BBC)

The BBC and Gary Lineker have apologised to viewers of Finland’s match against Denmark after footage of Christian Eriksen receiving CPR on the pitch was broadcast for several minutes.

The 29-year-old player collapsed during the first half of the game and needed emergency medical treatment on the pitch.

Viewers were left distressed that the cameras kept cutting back to Eriksen on the ground as players from his team formed a barrier around him to block him from view.

The BBC released a statement saying: ‘Everyone at the BBC is hoping Christian Eriksen makes a full recovery.

‘We apologise to anyone who was upset by the images broadcast. In stadium coverage is controlled by UEFA as the host broadcaster, and as soon as the match was suspended, we took our coverage off air as quickly as possible.’

Lineker, who was hosting the commentary from the studio, revealed that the game would resume after Eriksen was stabilised in hospital, apologising for the scenes which were broadcast.

Christian Eriksen
Denmark’s midfielder Christian Eriksen collapsed during the game (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

He tweeted: ‘We will be back on air at 7.25 on @BBCOne. I understand some of you would have been upset with some of the images shown (we were too).

‘Obviously these were the host pictures and out of our control. They should have stayed on a wide of the stadium. Apologies.’

It was later confirmed that Eriksen’s condition was stable in hospital and the game was able to resume.

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