Emil Nielsen opens up on vulnerable subject in private: Is it a blood clot?
« The Wall in the Target » talks about scary episode.
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Even the most experienced elite athletes can experience moments when the nerves tighten and the body goes into alarm readiness. The Danish national goalkeeper Emil Nielsen knows all about this.
Shortly before the European Championship final in 2024, he faced one of the biggest tasks of the career-but the match on the field was overshadowed by an internal match he could not kick off.
“I sit and look down into the floor”
Before the whistle sounded and the title was to be decided, he was struck by a panic attack of such strength that he suspected a blood clot.
« I sit and look down at the floor for an hour because I’m so pressed, » Emil Nielsen says in an interview with Jyllands-Posten. It was not just common nervousness – it was an overwhelming fear that put his whole body and mind into alarm readiness.
He describes how he tried to signal to a physical therapist because he thought something was physically wrong. The anxiety was so dominant that he was convinced that he would not play handball again.
« I’m a hundred percent sure it’s the last match I will ever play, » he says in the interview, elaborating on how he discovered a bruise on his arm and immediately connected it with something far more serious. In trying to get help he reached out – literally – but was not captured in the crowd.
The anxiety led to dizziness, turmoil and the feeling of fainting. For a goalkeeper who plays daily in FC Barcelona and has been in countless pressured situations, it shows how violent the mental pressure of the sport can manifest – even for the very best.
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