Eriksen: Old Trafford is a wonderful stadium
Manchester United midfielder Christian Eriksen says he now gets a different vibe from Old Trafford, since he became a Red in the summer.
During his appearance on the UTD Podcast – an episode you can listen to in full in our app from 17:00 BST on Tuesday – Eriksen compares his experiences of playing at our home ground for both United and other clubs.
Prior to joining the Reds last July, Eriksen had previously represented Ajax, Tottenham Hotspur and Brentford in M16, but says that the aura he feels at the stadium has changed having had the opportunity to grace our hallowed turf on a regular basis – prior to his ankle injury - this season.
New | Eriksen on Old Trafford
Christian Eriksen explains how it feels to play at our famous stadium, both for and against United...
“And then coming here and playing, I do get why some people – especially now and how it’s going – are scared to play because of the crowd.
“[They are] good people, good fans. It’s a wonderful stadium.”
Christian made his return to action at Old Trafford on Saturday, having recently recovered from the aforementioned problem that he suffered against Reading in January.
His substitute cameo against Everton was his 17th competitive outing at our home stadium in 2022/23, and therefore the experience of pulling on the famous red shirt in M16 is something that has become relatively normal to the Denmark international.
It did, however, take a bit of getting used to at first, as he explains to co-hosts David May, Helen Evans and Sam Homewood during his podcast appearance.
“[It was] weird [walking out of the tunnel as a United player for the first time],” Christian jokes, when recalling his first United game at Old Trafford – which was actually in a pre-season friendly against Rayo Vallecano.
“The same as when you walk into the stadium, walking to the right instead of the left [to get to the] changing rooms and stuff.
“So that was a bit of a different feeling compared to being here the last few times but no, it was special.”
The new episode of UTD Podcast, featuring Christian Eriksen, will be released in the United App at 17:00 BST on Tuesday 11 April.