Christian Eriksen returned to competitive football, 259 days after a cardiac arrest during a European Championship game for Denmark, as a second-half substitute for Brentford against Newcastle on Saturday.

The stadium in west London united in applauding Eriksen's entry to the Premier League in the 52nd minute against Newcastle, an uplifting moment for a player the world feared the worst for when he collapsed last June.

The substitution had a link to that traumatic day at the European Championship. The player who Eriksen who came on for was Mathias Jensen, who took his place in the Denmark team when the game against Finland eventually resumed despite the distress of the star being in the hospital with an uncertain fate.

Now Eriksen has resumed his professional playing career after being fitted with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator.

Brentford was already trailing 2-0 to Newcastle when Eriksen entered with the west London club having to cope with 10 men after a first-half sending off. While Eriksen couldn’t inspire a comeback, he did help to limit the damage.

The need for an ICD meant Eriksen had to leave Serie A team Inter Milan due to Italian regulations. But Brentford stepped in to sign the free agent in the January transfer window.

In his own words, Eriksen said he was “gone from this world for five minutes" after collapsing on the field on the second day of the European Championship.

Now, after featuring in two warm-up games recently for Brentford without fans, Eriksen has made his competitive return to action — with playing at the World Cup in November his target.