Franck Ribery has revealed his devastation after being forced into retirement by a knee injury.
At the age of 39, Ribery hoped to play a full campaign with Salernitana in Serie A this season, and he was counting on being able to go out on his own terms.
Instead, a knee problem that first surfaced in July has finished off his playing career, with the Bayern Munich and France great admitting he has been reduced to tears this week.
He said he was not "really prepared" for the moment of calling time on his playing days, and explained that three months ago he was feeling healthy, only for problems to then begin.
Ribery featured in Salernitana's Serie A opener against Roma but conceded he "played in pain".
Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport, Ribery said: "I'm not a fragile person, but for the next three days I couldn't move. The doctors said the situation was very serious.
"I tried to recover. I couldn't believe I was forced to stop. I wanted to choose when I would say enough. But my football career is over."
He was shown a video celebrating his career.
"And I cried," Ribery said. "I have a sensitivity, a heart. I knew this day would come, but this is bad. It all happened very quickly. Too much. And it hurts me."
On Saturday, he took an emotional bow before Salernitana's game against Spezia, appearing in full kit on the pitch to take applause from the crowd. This, too, was a tearful moment, as he had envisaged it being.
Ribery won 81 caps for France and played in the 2006 World Cup final, while at club level his greatest successes came at Bayern Munich, where he helped the German giants win nine Bundesliga titles in 12 years, as well as six DFB-Pokals, one Champions League, a UEFA Super Cup and a Club World Cup.
In his time witht the Bavarian giants, Ribery made 273 Bundesliga appearances, recording 86 goals and 92 assists.
It was back to Bavaria that Ribery went recently in a last-ditch bid to extend his career.
"Less than a month ago I went to Munich for a consultation," Ribery said. "I thought: maybe a solution is found. Instead, I will have to be operated on, but only to be able to lead a normal life."
He thanked Salernitana for their support, after being promised another role within the club – "any other role I wanted" – and spoke of what he felt his legacy would be.
"My style of play, my mentality, my hunger," Ribery said. "I am someone who came from the street, and perhaps today there are not many who like me have the dribbling, the spark, the fantasy. I can't say I was the best, but I was certainly different."
Liam Manning pleased with Oxford’s ‘professional performance’ against Shrewsbury
Oxford boss Liam Manning hailed his team’s comfortable 3-0 win over Shrewsbury at the Kassam Stadium as “another professional performance”.
The U’s briefly went back to the top of Sky Bet League One, only for Portsmouth’s late winner against Wycombe to leave Manning’s men in second place, but with a four-point cushion over third-placed Bolton.
Oxford’s goals came from Fin Stevens in the 17th minute, Ciaron Brown on the hour-mark and Greg Leigh in stoppage time, with the Shrews not helping themselves as Joe Anderson was sent off just before the second goal for a second yellow card.
Keeper Marko Marosi was at fault for the first and third goals.
Manning said: “It was a really professional performance because we restricted them to very little, and arguably could have scored more goals.
“This was another experience for the team, seeing how we could break down opponents when we had a lot of possession, and later when they had 10 players.
“We are playing with confidence and we wanted to make sure the intensity is there, and the discipline and we had that.
“Our first goal was wing-back to wing-back – Leigh to Stevens – and it was nice for Stevens to get his first goal – it’s important to us that everyone chips in.”
Left-back Leigh, who was sent off against Port Vale and then away on international duty, is now Oxford’s second highest scorer.
Manning said: “Yes, Greg had an interesting start to his career here, but you could see last Saturday the quality he has and what he brings to us.
“I actually thought we had more quality against 11 players in the first half than we did against 10. But it was another new experience and good test to see how we managed the game against 10 men.
“We’ve got options coming off the bench and depth, it’s a strong group and people need to be ready for when they come in and get a chance.”
Shrewsbury’s head coach Matty Taylor admitted he was angry with his players.
Taylor said: “It was always going to be tough coming here against a good team and when you make the errors we did that makes it even tougher.
“Out of possession I thought we were in control but we made three bad errors and got punished for it.
“And making errors is uncharacteristic for this group of players.
“There has been a conversation in the dressing room and the players, who are obviously disappointed, understand why I am angry.
“With the first goal Marosi should catch it and doesn’t, and the third goal – coming all the way out there – is something he doesn’t need to do.
“He has been consistent for us, and he needs to get back to being consistent for us again.
“I have no arguments with the sending off. I’ve looked back at it and yes, it’s two yellow cards.
“But apart from the three errors and three goals, I think our keeper’s only had one real save to make.
“I think 11 v 11 we would have created more chances, but going down to 10 men and then conceding a second goal from that free-kick made it impossible for us.
“We need to regroup and make sure we don’t do this again. I am really angry because that is not a reflection of the types of players we have got at this club.
“We didn’t make the correct decisions as often as we have in previous games. The players now need to be positive for what is a massive and difficult game against Northampton on Saturday.”
Carlisle boss Paul Simpson pleased to take point against impressive Peterborough
Paul Simpson was delighted to see his Carlisle side take a point against “the best side we’ve come across this season” in Peterborough.
Jordan Gibson’s deflected strike in the sixth minute of stoppage time snatched the Cumbrians a point after Ronnie Edwards had opened the scoring 16 minutes from time.
Simpson told BBC Cumbria: “This was an outstanding working performance where we’ve had to work on all areas of our game.
“We had to weather a storm in the first half because Peterborough started like a house on fire. They are the best side we’ve come across this season. They are a strong football team for this level.
“But we stayed in the game. We rode our luck at times. The players worked their socks off. Towards the end of the first half we started to get some control in the game but we didn’t work the keeper enough.
“In the second half, we held our own. I’ve looked back at the videos and the penalty shouts we had were stonewall penalties. I got told during the game they were, but I had to bite my lip.
“We’re looking at four or five proper penalties we’ve been denied this season.
“I’m delighted with the character the boys have shown tonight. Jordan Gibson showed real bravery to get that final shot away. Yes, it took a deflection, who cares? But we absolutely deserved a point today.”
Peterborough’s assistant manager Kieran Scarff told BBC Cambridgeshire Sport: “Naturally frustrating, no doubt about that.
“It was a game we should have won, a game we deserved to win. There was a lot we were happy about with our performance. Through the game we got in some great positions and had loads of chances in the final third.
“We showed discipline for large spells of the game, but generally our possession was really good. Ultimately we showed a little bit of naivety at the end. They get lucky in the end with the deflection and three points turn into one.
“We started the game really well. We were working from a solid base of possession and the speed of our attack was good.
“The goal was just-reward for the detail we’re putting in to set-pieces and at long last Ronnie Edwards has his first goal for the club.
“It’s never easy in League One that you can dominate a game for 90 minutes, especially away from home. It takes discipline to maintain the belief in a young side, but the players did that. We have a team full of energy and it’s great to see that have an impact.”
Kidderminster off the bottom after beating Dorking to end long winless run
Bailey Hobson’s first-half strike moved Kidderminster off the bottom of the National League as they won 1-0 at Dorking.
Goalkeeper Christian Dibble kept out Tom Blair’s curling effort from outside the box as Dorking looked to break the deadlock after 25 minutes.
Kidderminster took the lead just before the break when Bailey Hobson scored from Joe Leesley’s pass moments after firing an effort wide.
The visitors came close to doubling their lead just after the hour mark but Krystian Pearce failed to get his head on to a dangerous free-kick.
Dorking almost equalised with 20 minutes left through Harry Ottaway, and went close again as George Francomb hit the underside of the crossbar, but Kiddy held on to end an 11-match winless run.
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