The treble-winning former Manchester United winger tells FourFourTwo about some tense encounters with two of the Premier League's most fearsome players...
(Image credit: Mike Finn-Kelcey/Getty Images)
Jesper Blomqvist had a fairly short but highly successful stint in the Premier League – during which he played alongside some of the division's biggest hardmen.
A treble winner with Manchester United in 1998/99, the Swedish winger moved on to Everton in 2001 – and found that not even his most valuable possessions were safe...
In an interview for the latest issue of FourFourTwo, Blomqvist recalled the time a Toffees teammate 'borrowed' his car.
"That was Duncan Ferguson," he told FFT. "When he was injured and I came back in from training, he said, 'Great car you have, Jesper. I just took it for a spin.' For obvious reasons, I chose to leave it at that!"
Blomqvist's three years at Old Trafford ought to have given him a taste of what to experience from English football's most fiery characters: he played in the same team as a certain Roy Keane – who blamed him for the booking which saw him miss the 1999 Champions League final.
"I felt it was harsh," said Blomqvist. "I can understand he was disappointed that he missed the final, but he had one of his best games [in United's semi-final second leg win against Juventus] after getting that yellow card, so he also has to thank me a bit!
"Roy's greatness was the way he conducted himself to get the best out of everybody. He was the captain and led by example. It took me a while to realise not to take it all personally. He put you on alert to give your all. You could never pull out of a tackle or not track back."
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What's Blomqvist up to these days, then? Running a prize-winning pizzeria in Sweden, of course!
"Since I stopped playing, I've been searching for what to do," he explained. "I've studied; I've coached; I've been a pundit. Then I did cooking courses and it was the first time after football that I found something I could do for hours.
"We've won a couple of awards in Sweden and were voted one of Europe's 50 best pizzerias. It's great."
Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...
