‘I was never the same’

Owen Hargreaves has revealed that the 2008 Champions League final was the last game he played before becoming chronically plagued by injuries, affecting his life on and off the pitch.

Hargreaves’ Manchester United defeated Chelsea in the showpiece event in Moscow, with the Red Devils triumphing via a penalty shootout.

The midfielder arrived at United from Bayern Munich at the start of that season, making 34 appearances in his first campaign in England.

But from the 2008/09 season onwards, Hargreaves would play just nine more games of competitive football due to a series of leg and knee problems.

“After that game against Chelsea, I was never the same,” Hargreaves said on the latest episode of James Richardson’s Kings of Europe podcast.

“Remember Prince when he changed his name to ‘The Artist Formerly Known As Prince’? I should have been ‘Formerly Known As Owen Hargreaves’ after that because I wasn’t the same.

“It’s weird when your body takes you so far somewhere to play, and then all of a sudden it’s taken away from you. It’s such a humbling thing because my ability to push is probably what got me there. But I was super blessed up to that point, up to 27 [years old].

“Life is pretty unpredictable, you don’t really control a lot of the variables.

“I don’t do any sport, really. Forget my football career – I spent my whole childhood playing sport. All day, every day, I came home from school, I played sport. It became my job, I could barely walk at times. I had to sleep on my couch sometimes because I could go up the stairs but couldn’t get back down.

“I was only 26, you know? These things happen to you, you start to have this success, play well and you’re playing for Man Utd or England or Bayern or wherever. And then all of a sudden you’re having pain walking around.

“Football was a beautiful thing for me, to be able to compete with people who were more talented than me and better than me, to even be on the stage with them was pretty amazing. I wish it could have gone perfect but life isn’t like that.”

While Hargreaves’ career ended in such a sad and emotional way, it began with him having to leave a job at McDonald’s in order to pursue his dream of playing professionally.

“Not a lot of people know this, I was working in McDonald’s as a chef before I moved to Bayern,” he said.

“I don’t know why, but they employed 14-year-old kids at the time so I did that. I didn’t want…