Ole Gunnar Solskjaer addresses rumours his 1999 knee slide contributed to 2007 retirement
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer admits he did injure himself in his 1999 Champions League final celebrations – but quashed suggestions that it caused him lasting damage.
Solskjaer famously netted the 93rd-minute winner which downed Bayern Munich 20 years ago, two minutes after Teddy Sheringham had equalised for the Red Devils.
The Norwegian slid away to celebrate and injured his knee in the process – but says there’s no truth to the rumours that the damage contributed to his retirement in 2007.
“That's not true,” he told ESPN. “I did get injured and I did tweak my medial ligament.
"It was nothing to do with my [later] injury but I missed two or three weeks and a couple of internationals for Norway. But it was worth it. The celebration was worth it.
"I've seen [the goal] so many times. I can’t remember exactly what I felt because I was so focused on my job.
“I think it was bigger for everyone else around. I just did my job as a striker, something I'd done so many times before.
"It was just being in the right position at the right time."
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Solskjaer takes his Manchester United side back to the Camp Nou for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final, trailing 1-0 after a slender defeat at Old Trafford.
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Joe was the Deputy Editor at FourFourTwo until 2022, having risen through the FFT academy and been on the brand since 2013 in various capacities.
By weekend and frustrating midweek night he is a Leicester City fan, and in 2020 co-wrote the autobiography of former Foxes winger Matt Piper – subsequently listed for both the Telegraph and William Hill Sports Book of the Year awards.