Former Arsenal Goalkeeper Jens Lehmann Reveals Biggest Regret & Day That Football Broke His Heart
Former Arsenal goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has revealed that receiving a red card in the 2006 Champions League final after bringing down Samuel Eto'o is one of his biggest footballing regrets, but it was not the day football broke his heart.
The now 48-year-old, who made 200 appearances for the north Londoners across all competitions during two spells with the club, joined the Gunners in 2003 from Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund.
During his inaugural season with the club, the ex-custodian played an imperative role in Arsene Wenger's 'Invincibles' campaign, receiving the golden glove for his key part in his side's famous success.
However, following on from that, Lehmann never got his hands on the Premier League trophy again, but did manage to accumulate one FA Cup winner's medal and reach the Champions League final during his first spell with the club in 2006.
Although, it was that famous night in Paris, which saw the Gunners go down 2-1 to Barcelona in the pinnacle match of European club football, which produced one of the German's biggest footballing regrets.
Just 18 minutes into the highly anticipated meeting, the former goalkeeper saw red after tangling with Eto'o outside the area while the Cameroon international was bearing down on goal.
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In the end the 10-man Arsenal eventually surrendered their goal advantage and were defeated by the mighty Catalan outfit, a night Lehmann will never forget.
“My one regret in football is… well, I have many”, the 48-year-old told FourFourTwo.
“Probably I shouldn’t have come out to touch Eto’o in the Champions League final.”
However, despite the disappointment of that famous night in France, it was not the day football broke the ex-Gunners' heart.
That came as Lehmann witnessed his national side crash out of the 2006 World Cup, a tournament which was hosted on German soil, courtesy of two last minute extra time goals from Fabio Grosso and Alessandro Del Piero.
That year's hosts were hotly tipped to go on and lift the golden trophy, something the former Arsenal man believes they should have done during his time in the national side, however it was not to be.
“The day football broke my heart was when we played in the semi-finals of our own World Cup at home”, he added.
“We conceded in the 120th minute against Italy and we were out. We should have won the World Cup and the European Cup with Germany more than once.”
All in all, it just seemed to be a bad 2006 for Lehmann.
