Skrtel retires aged 37
Former Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel has retired from football at the age of 37, citing health issues as the main reason behind his decision to hang up his boots.
Skrtel made the announcement during a press conference in his native Slovakia, where he called time on a 21-year long career in football.
The ex-Liverpool man spent eight years at Anfield, playing 320 times for the Reds, and was a key figure in title races under Rafael Benitez and Brendan Rodgers in the 2008/09 and 2013/14 campaigns respectively.
‘I don’t remember a day I spent without pain’
But health reasons have impacted the latter stages of his career and he believes that now is the time to end his playing days, despite believing he is still capable of playing at the highest level.
“By coming to Trnava, I fulfilled my dream. I think that even at this age I still have something to offer the team and I could play at the top level,” he said, as per Sport SK.
“But then there is a medical condition. I have problems with plaques, they limit me not only in football, but also in my personal life.
“I don’t remember a day I spent without pain. I have been training and wrestling under pills and injections in recent months.
“I had a problem walking with my son a hundred metres. The pain is pretty bad. The worst issues are running, jumping and the impact. This is something we need in football.
“Therefore, I had to decide that the match with Dunajska would be the last. The last one not only in Spartak, but also in my career.
“I couldn’t imagine life without football, but it’s time to start following the mind, not the heart. We have only one health. I have civil life ahead of me and I want to have it on some level, not in pain.”
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