Christian Eriksen returned to a football pitch to play on Monday for the first time since his cardiac arrest at Euro 2020.

Brentford signed Eriksen in January on a deal until the end of the season following his release from Inter in December, where he was ineligible for professional football in Italy after being fitted with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) device.

The Denmark international had not played since the incident during his nation’s 1-0 loss to Finland on June 12.

However, on his 30th birthday, Eriksen played 60 minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Southend United.

Brentford won the game 3-2 against the National League side, with the former Tottenham midfielder getting an assist for Josh Dasilva, who scored a hat-trick on his own return from injury.

The club’s official website reported that Eriksen “looked busy in the heart of midfield” and “could have found himself on the scoresheet in the opening minutes but was twice denied by the visitors’ stopper”.

Although now a step closer, it remains unclear when he will debut in the Premier League, with manager Thomas Frank recently stating it will take a “few weeks”.

Eriksen recently told the club’s website: “Condition-wise and strength-wise I am in a very good place, it’s just the football touch that needs to come back and get up to speed. We’ll see how my body reacts, but I feel very good.”