Martin Škrtel returned to an English football pitch on Monday night.
Although his Slovakia side were on the wrong end of a 2-1 scoreline at Wembley, the former Liverpool defender can at least take comfort from the fact he utterly terrified those watching on television as he sung his national anthem ahead of kick-off.
As always, a cameraman ran along both starting XIs as they belted out / awkwardly mumbled their anthems. As Slovakian captain, Škrtel, who now plays his club football in Turkey for Fenerbahçe, was last in line.
With the camera eventually reaching him, the 32-year-old stared into its lens – and deeply into the souls of every man, woman and child watching ITV’s broadcast.
What was actually only a matter of seconds somehow managed to feel like an eternity…
The camera operator has seen some Scorsese & is trying to dive into Skrtel's soul #ENGSLV pic.twitter.com/y4nvkDaBH0
— Toby Earle 🇺🇦 Threads tobyontv (@TobyonTV) September 4, 2017
… as Škrtel ensured he’d be haunting English football fans’ dreams for months to come.
Christ, I'm going to wake up in a cold sweat tonight with Martin Skrtel singing that anthem imprinted on my retinae.
— Adam (@adamjgosling) September 4, 2017
Martin Skrtel just stared into my soul. #ENGSVK pic.twitter.com/QaKdHWxTbA
— Adam Wilbourn (@adamwilbourn) September 4, 2017
https://twitter.com/davewebb1988/status/904776479380299776
Skrtel looked at me like the Night King looked at Bran Stark pic.twitter.com/6t2dTHWZaq
— Si Lloyd (@SmnLlyd5) September 4, 2017
No idea what you're talking about pic.twitter.com/wKkzltuIwr
— Dan (@Deetmon) September 4, 2017
Is anyone else terrified by Martin Skrtel staring right into the camera? #ENGSVK #FoxSoccer
— Nipun Chopra, PhD (@NipunChopra7) September 4, 2017
https://twitter.com/kieran_gallop/status/904776660901355521
Slovakia started the game well, too: Stanislav Lobotka’s early goal putting them ahead. England drew level before half-time thanks to Eric Dier, with Marcus Rashford scoring the winner in the second half.
England now look likely to seal qualification to next summer’s World Cup, the in putting them five points clear at the top of Group F.
