As Chelsea put together to welcome Ajax to Stamford Bridge for the third match of their Champions League marketing campaign, one of many former stars who performed for each golf equipment weighed in on the fortunes of the 2 groups.
However in contrast to many former skilled footballers, Jesper Gronkjaer has gone some years with out sharing his opinions publicly, having given up his profitable profession as a tv pundit.
Gronkjaer joined Chelsea from the Dutch membership in 2000, having spent the earlier two years in Amsterdam at begin of his profession.
The 48-year-old remains to be fondly remembered in west London for scoring the deciding purpose in Chelsea’s winner-takes-all Premier League conflict in opposition to Liverpool in 2003, which helped the membership to safe Champions League soccer for the next season.
Then dubbed ‘the £20million match’, the win and Gronkjaer’s function in it was probably price far more, as weeks later Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich made the choice to purchase the membership, reworking its fortunes.
Present head coach Enzo Maresca even talked about the purpose on the finish of final season, as Chelsea have been once more chasing a spot within the European prime flight forward of their last match in opposition to Nottingham Forest.
Jesper Gronkjaer was one in all Chelsea’s stars within the interval simply earlier than Roman Abramovich’s takeover in west London
The 48-year-old is enshrined within the membership’s historical past after scoring the purpose which secured them Champions League soccer in 2003-04
‘All of them dream about that, to be the one which scores the purpose and we end within the Champions League,’ Maresca advised reporters on the eve of the competition, inadvertently inspiring Levi Colwill to attain the one purpose wanted to substantiate their place.
After further spells at Birmingham Metropolis, Atletico Madrid, Stuttgart, and Copenhagen, Gronkjaer hung up his boots in 2011.
However after a decade spent in soccer punditry, the previous winger struggled to attach together with his post-playing profession, and was compelled to take a nine-month absence from work amid a four-year battle with despair and stress.
In an interview with Ajax’s media crew nonetheless, Gronkjaer revealed that he’s in a superb place, partly as a result of his new profession as a builder.
‘I really feel actually good,’ he shared. ‘I presently stay in Aarhus, stay a superb life, and am far faraway from the soccer world.
‘I wished to attempt one thing else, and now I am in development and residence renovation, one thing fully new. Over the last years of my profession, I would thought of it just a few instances, however I first grew to become a pundit.
‘I take pleasure in my free time,’ Gronkjaer added. ‘Again then, it wasn’t an issue, however now my days aren’t totally deliberate out. That is simply the way it was then, a part of the job.
‘As a footballer, you are at all times in a (very nice) bubble. However you are additionally fairly remoted. Now I stay extra within the background and might do different issues – snowboarding, padel, travelling – all of the issues I could not do whereas taking part in soccer.’
Nevertheless, Gronkjaer admitted that he missed the ‘togetherness’ of sport, including: ‘Skilled soccer is an unbelievable studying expertise.
‘You find out about self-discipline, self-reliance, language, and the way to deal with strain’.
Maresca will hope that of the qualities listed by Gronkjaer, self-discipline looms massive within the minds of his gamers on Wednesday night time.
Chelsea have picked up a staggering 5 crimson playing cards of their final six video games.
The Italian coach himself is just not innocent nonetheless, choosing up his personal crimson card within the dying minutes of Chelsea’s match in opposition to Liverpool, which noticed him serve a touchline ban throughout their 3-0 win in opposition to Nottingham Forest over the weekend.
