STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) – The Danish duo of Christian Eriksen and Rasmus Hojlund will show the benefits of playing together for Manchester United at Euro 2024 despite plenty of turbulence at the Premier League club this past season, according to assistant coach Morten Wieghorst.
Wieghorst, a former Denmark midfielder who is now part of Kasper Hjulmand’s backroom team, said that playing and training together would give the pair a better understanding as they take on Slovenia, England and Serbia in Group C in Germany.
“To try and utilise those relationships that players can have from their club situations is always a benefit, especially when you’re talking about great players like Christian and Rasmus,” Wieghorst told Reuters in a recent interview before the team departed for Germany.
Though United beat Manchester City to win the FA Cup, an eighth-placed finish was the Old Trafford club’s worst in the Premier League. However, Wieghorst said that was less important than the amount of time the pair had trained together.
“Historically, that’s been a lynch-pin for Denmark as well – in our great ’80s Danish team, we had players playing together at Ajax, at Anderlecht, clubs like that where players were playing at a high level.
“They were playing together and bringing those relationships back to the national team, which is a great thing – even in the 1992 Euro-winning team we had seven or eight players with relationships back to Brondby, and that’s something that can be utilised,” he said.
The 53-year-old coach said playmaker Eriksen will be key if the Euro 2020 semi-finalists are to progress to the knockout stage.
“Eriksen is still a fantastic player and he has the experience – we have to remember that going into the Euros and finals in general, having players that have been there before and done it and tried everything is so important,” he said.
Denmark kick off their Euro 2024 campaign against Slovenia in Stuttgart on Sunday.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Ken Ferris)
