Miroslav Klose, 8 years after his retirement “I didn’t recognize football anymore”

Article by Romeo Ene – Published on Thursday, 28 March 2024, 07:48 / Updated on Thursday, 28 March 2024 08:58

Miroslav Klose (45 years old), the legend of the national team Germany, stated in an interview that he does not identify with current football. The former striker retired in 2016 after an impressive career.

Klose is still the top scorer in World Cup history (16 goals). The former striker scored 71 goals in 137 games for the German national team. Now a coach, Klose explained the reasons that led him to give up his career as a footballer, although he could have played for a few more seasons at the highest level.

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In his last season as a player, while wearing the shirt of Lazio, he was involved in 15 goals signed by the Italians.

Miroslav Klose on retirement from football as a player: ‘Today’s young players think about cars’

The best scorer in the history of the German national team, world champion in 2014, wanted to specify what made him “hang up his boots.”

“I gave up my football career because I no longer recognized football. Nowadays, young players have other things on their minds. When I was a kid I was only thinking about training and becoming someone in this sport that I always loved.

At Lazio and the national team, after every training session, we go into a tub full of ice to avoid injuries. When the players saw me collecting the bags of balls to put away at the end of practice, they would ask me: “But who tells you to do that?”

At that moment I said to myself: “You’re 20 years old and you can’t help a 60-year-old worker?” They care more if their sneakers match their socks. That’s why I chose to quit. The football I knew no longer exists, I no longer recognized it.

Today’s young players are thinking about cars, contracts with their sponsors and new boots. Only after all these things comes football. For them, the image is the most important aspect.

The only thing that mattered to me was football in its purest form,” said Klose, quoted by Mundo Deportivo.

Homburg, Kaiserslautern, Bremen, Bayern and Lazio are the clubs Klose played for throughout his career. He last played for the Italian team. He has 71 goals in 137 matches for the German national team. In selections, he is surpassed only by Lothar Matthaus, who has 150.

He was the top scorer of the World Cup in Germany in 2006, with 5 goals.