Christian Eriksen scored with his first touch on his Denmark comeback, 287 days after his cardiac arrest at Euro 2020.
Brought on against the Netherlands as a half-time substitute in Amsterdam, Eriksen was on the scoresheet within two minutes after ghosting on to Andreas Skov Olsen’s low cross into the box and curling a first-time shot into the top left corner.
Eriksen ended up on the losing side, however. Tottenham’s Steven Bergwijn gave the Dutch the lead before Leicester’s Jannik Vestergaard equalised. Manchester City’s Nathan Aké restored the Netherlands’ advantage and Memphis Depay, with a penalty, made it 3-1 at half-time. Eriksen reduced the deficit before Bergwijn scoredwrapped up the win with his second.
“I was pleased to show I can still play. It feels like I’ve never been away from the team,” Eriksen told Dutch TV. “It was a bit emotional to be back in the national team but I’ve hardly missed any games over the last 10 years so I’m like part of the family.”
Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal said: “I think we did a good job and hardly gave them any chances while we made many for ourselves.”
In Baden-Württemberg, Chelsea’s Kai Havertz and Timo Werner scored first-half goals in Germany’s 2-0 win over Israel to make it eight wins out of eight under Hansi Flick.
“I am satisfied with our game today,” Flick said. “We are satisfied with every part of our game.”
Werner, struggling for form at his club, said: “I am a striker and I want to score goals. At Chelsea it may not be going as I would have wished. There are differences in the style when you play for the club or the national team. Maybe it fits me more here. I feel well when I play here.”
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Spain needed a 90th-minute winner from Dani Olmo to beat Albania 2-1 in Espanyol’s Cornellà-El Prat stadium. It took the home side 75 minutes to break the deadlock through Ferran Torres, only for Myrto Uzuni to equalise.
“The crowd was amazing, they deserved a win,” Olmo said. “We dominated and it was a good test. If we are playing friendlies now it’s because we are qualified for the World Cup so it says a lot.”