Interviewed by the journalist Lorenzo Marucci for the website firenzeviola.it while being for a couple of days in Florence, Tomáš spoke about his career and his future, Fiorentina and the upcoming round of Champions League.
A few days ago you have announced your retirement from fooball, was it because your knee is still hurting?
Yes, above all because of that. I think I could have played, but I didn't want to deal with doctors all the time, so I have decided to quit football and start a new life.
A new life, that is?
We will see, I have quit football only 4 days ago. Now I'm waiting, I've always wanted to work with my agent, it's something I'd like to do, we will see.
Your career was excellent: the victory in Europa League with Atletico Madrid, a European Supercup and good satisfactions with Fiorentina and Galatasaray.
Yes I'm very satisfied, because I have played about 600 matches and I basically played all the time. Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey and also Czech Republic, without serious injuries, the last one arrived when I was 34, so I'm very happy.
The biggest archievement was winning Europa League or the Supercup?
I think Europa League is better, because we have played many matches before the final, while Supercoppa is just one match.
You have played with many champions, who was the strongest according to you? Drogba or who else?
I think the team we had here with Fiorentina and Cesare Prandelli was more like a family, I was very happy and in fact I come back very often, from a footballing point of view Atletico was the highest peak but I was feeling better in Firenze.
So regrets for not winning with Fiorentina. There was the chance to win Europa League, when you lost the semi-final at penalties.
That's true, as you said we had a strong team and we could win against Rangers Glasgow and play the final against Zenit, but that's football, we failed at penalties. In Firenze I feel like home, I have more friends here than in Prague and I come here more often than before.
You're surely following Italian football, Juventus is back on the top of the chart, but Roma has been at #1 for 10 matchdays. What do you think, will Juventus win Serie A again?
There's also Napoli who's playing very well, but Juventus is always there. According to me Fiorentina can play for the 3rd place, the team is very strong and I hope that next year when I'll be back there will be Champions League.
Juventus will face Galatasaray, according to you will they manage to go through, as it's the decisive match?
I hope not, because as ex Galatasaray player and also supporter, I know what Juventus will have to face. Galatasaray players and their supporters know well they must win, I would like them to win and Juventus to lose.
But against Real Madrid it was very bad for Galatasaray.
Yes, of course. In two matches they took 10 goals but I think you just have to forget such matches, above all when you play home. Supporters are ready, for sure they forgot the last match and they know that if they win, they're through.
Galatasaray is weaker than last year, also because of you missing.
Without me of course, they miss a central defender that can lead the line (he laughs)... Mancini arrived and the team was practically made, so I'm sure some new players will arrive.
Unfortunately there's the rule that not more that 6 foreign players can play, so they have to buy strong Turkish players, but I'm sure Galatasaray will be back where they belong, they can still fight for the League.
Watch the video of the interview here
You can find the original article on FIRENZEVIOLA.
I have translated the interview into English from Italian, I apologize for any mistakes!
After signing with Sparta Prague this summer, Tomáš has decided to retire from football, as his knee has not healed well enough to continue.
The year of waiting is over. Tomáš Ujfaluši, Sparta's summer reinforcements, on Thursday, for the first time after the injury, debuted with his new team. He played the friendly match against Slovan Bratislava without health problems, the only unpleasant moment was at 53., when after a cross from side he almost knocked the ball into his own net.
The defender played his first match with the new team in a friendly against Slovan Bratislava.
After one year from the injury to his knee, Tomáš can finally work with his team-mates.
There were many rumours about the defender joining Sparta in the last days, and the club made it finally official through a press conference today.
You're not allowed to copy anything from this website without permission of the authors
webmaster@fiorentina.cz | cele@fiorentina.cz | www.fiorentina.cz