The Republic of Ireland may have been handed a relatively favourable World Cup play-off draw but Denmark’s star man was instrumental as Tottenham beat back-to-back Champions League winners Real Madrid.
The final score at Wembley was 3-1 but the game was over when Eriksen added a third goal in the 65th minute with Ronaldo’s late strike a mere consolation.
Martin O’Neill will no doubt have been watching and it will now be his job to come up with a plan for the attacking midfielder on the 11th and 14th of this month.
Speaking on RTÉ's UEFA Champions League programme, Eamon Duphy reviewed the Dane’s influence on the game.
"He’s cute, he’s technically very gifted, he clever," said Dunphy.
"He’s not in the game all the time. He sneaks around the place, his use of the ball is good, his vision is good.
"He’s a player who is very good at set-pieces [but] we didn’t see that tonight.
"He lurks in that space just in between midfield and the strikers. He doesn't give it away.
"He’s not a fighter or he’s not going to be dominating games or shaping them but his interventions are intelligent.
"He drags Ramos away here, he occupies his mind, Ramos would normally be interested in stopping the shot."
"He finishes this, and this is the nightmare, one-on-one although I don’t think the Irish goalkeeper Darren Randolph will drop like a sack of sand the way that goalkeeper did.
"But he’s a formidable player and we’ll have to watch him very carefully but we’ll be able to watch him."
Speaking to RTÉ Sport after the game, Eriksen said: "I'm very excited for us. We'll be going into the game with a lot of confidence.
"Of course we need to qualify for the World Cup so we need to beat the Irish.
"Now we focus on the Premier League (v Crystal Palace) on Sunday but afterwards it will be 100% on Ireland."
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