Newcastle won. Brentford lost. And Christian Eriksen came on as a second half substitute to complete one of football’s most remarkable personal comeback stories.

Eriksen replaced Mathias Jensen in the 52nd minute and the Danes embraced briefly, no doubt fully aware of the significance.

Jensen had been the substitute, sent on to replace Eriksen after the distressing scenes that followed his cardiac arrest in Copenhagen, on a Saturday evening in June, during Denmark’s opening fixture of Euro 2020 against Finland.

‘Gone from this world for five minutes,’ was the way Eriksen summed it after signing for Brentford last month and, here he was, back in competitive football, 37 weeks later.

On he trotted, wearing the number 21, to a lengthy, standing ovation. He accepted a ‘welcome back’ handslap from Newcastle’s Ryan Fraser as he settled in on the right side of Brentford’s midfield trio and set about helping his new team, already down to 10 men and trailing 2-0.

This was a moment Eriksen has been striving towards since taking the decision to continue his football career with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) fitted, in the worst case scenario that his heart suffers another seizure.

It was also the moment Brentford fans have been eagerly anticipating since he signed last month, having agreed to cancel his contract with Inter Milan in December because players cannot compete in Italy’s Serie A with an ICD.

There was warm applause when the teams were announced and more applause when he warmed up on the touchline.

He was the cover star of the match-day programme, which contained a 10-page feature on the Dane described by Bees boss Thomas Frank as ‘the best player with the biggest cv’ to ever play for the club.

Frank said he expected Eriksen to require ‘three or four’ games to recover his sharpness and the intuition to kick in again.

His first touch was a reminder of his impeccable control in a tight space, the ball answered his commands and his short pass found a teammate red-and-white.

There were, of course, times when he looked like a player short on rhythm, but this will hopefully return quickly, and it must have felt like old times as he became locked in a disagreement with referee Mike Dean in the closing minutes. Some things don’t change.

Dean’s early red card had already shaped the game. Brentford played with 10 men from the 11th minute, when VAR Darren England advised the ref to check a clumsy challenge by Josh Dasilva on the monitor.

There had been no foul awarded, initially, but replays clearly showed Dasilva needlessly high, over the ball, catching Matt Targett high on the ankle.

Dasilva, making his first home start after almost a year out with a hip injury, was dismissed.

Newcastle took control and should have taken the lead when Ryan Fraser picked out Chris Wood at the back post.

Raya saved Wood’s header and, moments later, denied Targett but was beaten by Joelinton, just after the half hour. Fraser delivered again from the left and Joelinton leapt above Kristoffer Ajer and headed in his second of the season.

His first also came against Brentford, in November, and he sprinted alone the length of the pitch to celebrate with the away fans, who responded by chorusing the Brazilian’s name for the next 10 minutes as Raya worked wonders to keep Newcastle at bay.

There were saves from Fraser, Wood and Fabian Schar, and an effort fizzed narrowly over by Jonjo Shelvey before Schar sprang out of defence, wriggling clear of Rico Henry, and set up Willock for the second, just before half time.

Eriksen’s introduction lifted Brentford spirits as did the introduction of Ivan Toney, back from injury, but there was no way back into the game.

Raya kept the score down and Newcastle climbed above their hosts, a little further from relegation trouble. Brentford are slipping into trouble at an alarming rate.

They have taken only one point from eight games but Eriksen is with them now and he knows something about survival.