“Som den lille grimme ælling...”

Christian Eriksen: Hey Ralle!

Rasmus Falk: Hey Crille.

CE: You could make it. Just in time.

RF: Now it seems like I’m the one who’s late, right?

CE: Precisely.

CE: All good?

RF: All good. We’re flying soon. Then we’re coming over to visit you.

CE: Have you trained?

RF: We have trained.

CE: Are you ready for tomorrow then?

RF: I think so. We’ll see. We have been keeping an eye on what you’ve been doing, so I’m assuming we’re okay prepared.

CE: Yeah, I hope so, I hope so. We haven’t gotten to that yet.

RF: What about you?

CE: We’re training soon. We probably have a meeting soon and then some training and then we have the gameplan for tomorrow afterwards, I think.

RF: Yeah. You make sure you’re in the [starting] 11, right?

CE: Yes, you do that. You try that every time, don’t you? You do that every time. You always want to play.

RF: Exactly.

CE: You’re number 6, aren’t you? You’re playing defensive midfielder again. You’re defensive, huh?

RF: We’ll see about that. I’ll say, I was once a nine, but slowly it’s just gone downhill.

CE: I can only say the same. You’re being placed further and further down the pitch.

RF: It’s crazy to think that we’d both end up so far down the pitch.

CE: Yes. I hadn’t thought you would to be honest.

RF: I really hadn’t either, but… yeah.

CE: It works. It’s good, well done.

RF: Yes, yes. It’s fine. Now we’re down there having a blast. Once upon a time it was more fun, right, to be close to the goal and [to be the one to] do something fancy all the time, but that time has passed now.

CE: You’re not scoring enough. You have barely-you haven’t scored since Middelfart.

RF: But back then I scored a lot of goals.

CE: You scored a lot of goals there, that’s right.

RF: I scored a lot of goals there.

CE: I’m looking forward to tomorrow. It’ll be good tomorrow.

RF: It’s going to be really great. We’re looking forward to it.

CE: Have you played there before? No, the last time you met United it was in Germany, right?

RF: Yes, it was in Cologne. There wasn’t… it wasn’t Old Trafford or Parken. It was without fans and Covid and… not much happened.

CE: It’ll be good tomorrow.

RF: We’re looking forward to tomorrow. We… we’re coming to get something out of it, you need to be prepared for that.

(Picture of Eriksen and Falk from tournament back in the day)

RF: It was good times.

CE: Yes.

RF: Shit, we had a good team.

CE: That we had. We were also made to play indoor football. It was our kind of game, indoor. It was great.

RF: Yes. At that time, I actually thought indoor was more fun that outdoor football.

CE: But you were also always in a [sports] hall. You played badminton or indoors.

RF: Yes, I was in a hall a lot during that time, that’s true.

CE: You liked the hall experience.

RF: I lived there half the time.

CE: It’s many years ago now, huh? I’ve been… are you there… no, you start-are you there as a five-year-old? I start just before because of (Kylle, the neighbour’s-?).

RF: Yeah, I think you start a bit before me, but I’m not sure. We have played all the way up there and went to Odense together afterwards.

CE: As 13-year-olds.

RF: And then you quickly wanted out into the world.

CE: Yes!

RF: You went to Amsterdam, how old were you then? 16?

CE: Yes, 16.

RF: We’ve also gone to school together.

CE: Yes, that’s true.

RF: Back in the day, we spend a lot of time together. We trained together every day, we played together, back and forth with train and bus and car and everything. And then Christian [went to Ajax] and since then we’ve met up a few times, but mostly we’ve texted each other and… And then a bit more time passes between [meetings]. [But] it’s natural.

CE: Yes, yes, yes, but I’m-as mentioned - two completely different places. But it isn’t-it’s funny, you feel that even though, and maybe that’s just our connection, even though it’s been a long time since we’ve talked, or a longer time, it still feels very natural.

RF: 100 percent.

CE: It doesn’t feel like we’re complete strangers even though we haven’t seen each other in a long time and that’s postive.

RF: No, and we’ve also achieved a lot of things together during the youth years where [we got] some cool experiences. And I’m really, really glad to have been able to compete with you all the way up, because it’s helped me develop-

CE: Same here.

RF: - and I definitely think I’ve benefitted from that in my football - and probably the other way around as well. So we’ve been privileged.

CE: It definitely has. It was fun, but as you say, it was still a contest. It was still about who was the best [that day].

RF: It was probably something that helped sharpen [our skills].

CE: Yes, for sure.

RF: It’s been really great. And then it’s been great to follow from a distance, the career you’ve made and the road you’ve taken. It’s very impressive and I have the utmost respect for it. We happily follow it, and then tomorrow we hope it’s me who beats you, and us that beat Manchester. It’s going to be great.

CE: It’s the first time we meet as well. We’ve never met on club level either, so it’s going to be very special.

RF: Yeah, I was asked about it yesterday. The “you’ve never played-“-no, but I feel like I’ve played against you a hundred times. We’ve trained against each other every day, mostly on opposite teams. So it’s not like it’s going to be completely new, but it’s true that it’s going to be fun [on this level]. And then with that setting - it’s of course a great experience.

CE: It’s going to be so great. I think that as soon as we get onto the pitch, it’s just going to be a football match like all the other ones. Of course you look around a bit when you see that there’s someone running around in the middle with ‘FALK’ on his back. Then you might look a bit differently and think ‘oh, that’s someone I know’. But as mentioned, when you play on the pitch, it gets put aside, and then I’m sure we’ll get a good talk after the match about how it ends.

RF: Yeah. We’ve both experienced playing against close friends and friendships a lot of times in the career and when you’re on the pitch it’s only about one thing. It’s about winning, and then we take what needs to be talked about afterwards.

CE: Have a nice flight, first and foremost.

RF: Thank you.

CE: See you very soon. See you tomorrow and [have a] good game.

RF: Yes. Thank you very much. And then we’re also looking forward to welcoming you home to Copenhagen and [for you] to see what Parken can on a European night. You’ve only experienced the national team’s matches there. I promise you that Parken can also be special on a Champions League night. So you should also look forward to that.

CE: I’ve only seen cool things from also the year before the last and (?) Champions League. It’s only been nice to see how Parken comes alive. And exactly, as you say yourself, national team matches, there’s also a really good atmosphere. So I’m looking forward to how it’ll look in F.C.’s colours as well.

RF: We’ll make sure to create a fantastic setting, we promise that. And take it easy tomorrow.

CE: Can you bring a ‘brunsviger’ (a cake especially loved on Funen) in Copenhagen?

RF: They can’t make it over here. You need to bring them from Funen, they can’t make them here. It’s cinnamon and stuff like that they put on - it’s not the real deal. You don’t want to wish for one from over here cause then it’s not a great dessert anymore.

CE: No, perfect. Then I’ll import one from Odense, I’ll do that instead then.

RF: Yes, do that. Crille, my friend, see you tomorrow.

CE: See you. Have a good journey.