A Kosovo fan rushed the pitch at Christian Eriksen, but just wanted a hug

We’ve seen a few pitch invaders over the past few months in both English and world football. But I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one that just wanted a little cuddle. Towards the end of yesterday’s 2-2 friendly draw between Kosovo and Denmark, the match was interrupted by a fan who ran onto the pitch, straight at Tottenham Hotspur and Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen.

But unlike the Birmingham pitch invader that punched Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish in the Second City Derby a little while ago, this guy just wanted a hug. The kid was apparently a huge fan of Eriksen and just wanted to get close to his hero, and he managed it before security dragged him away.

There’s a video of the incident on Danish paper Ekstra Bladet’s website. It’s actually pretty cute — I’d like to hug Eriksen too!

Christian seemed genuinely amused at the time by the young hugger, but told Ekstra Bladet that this was a life experience he can probably check off the bucket list and not do again.

“I’ve never had that happen before. It came out of nowhere and was very different. It was kind of fun to try that one time. Now hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”

Apparently the young man wanted more than just to express his admiration — he also was angling for a match-worn Eriksen jersey, which is odd considering he rushed the pitch in the 88th minute. Eriksen didn’t acquiesce to his request.

“He got to say ‘shirt, shirt’ before he was taken away. My shirt went to a Danish soldier who was also at the stadium.”

Eriksen was a 60th minute substitute in the match, and scored a penalty three minutes after his entrance. Denmark’s next match is a EURO qualifier at Switzerland on Tuesday.