After seven seasons at the club and memories that the fans will never forget, Martin Jorgensen was delighted to be back in Udine for pre-match ahead of the thrilling draw with Hellas Verona, followed by an appearance in the Udinese Tonight studios on Monday.
“I missed being here for so many years,” admitted the former midfielder in flawless Italian. “I’d never been to the new stadium, but it's still like coming home. I felt so happy here yesterday. It’s just a shame about the result. It's fantastic to hear the Udinese fans once again. It's just like the old times.”
The “old times” were between 1997 and 2004 to be precise, which were unforgettable for the player nicknamed by Alberto Zaccheroni as the “computer”, due to his technical diligence on the pitch.
“I’d like to thank my team-mates for so many fantastic years together here and also in European competitions. We wanted to play good football together. We were a strong group and the fans were like a big family. I remember that when we’d leave the stadium, we’d go out for a sandwich and a glass of wine afterwards, which I’d never seen beforehand and I’ve never seen since.”
The Dane looked back at his team-mates from that time, such as Oliver Bierhoff, Marcio Amoroso and his compatriot Thomas Helveg, with whom he is still in touch today.
“I still speak to him now. We go out cycling together and we take part in a charity match once a year.”
The switch to Fiorentina was possibly not the most ambitious decision, as Jorgensen admitted: “Maybe I could’ve gone to a bigger club, but I went to Florence to play. I didn’t want to be stuck on the bench.”
The Dane then returned to his home country ahead of the 2010 World Cup. “I wanted to go back home to be involved in the World Cup at the age of 34. I ended up stopping at 39, which maybe was too late! That’s why I never thought about ending my career in Udine. It wasn’t such a difficult decision because I started to feel the strain in training every day and the other players were too quick for me.”
Life after his playing career could’ve taken many directions, but family came first for Jorgensen: I coach Aarhus under 14s for six months and I was part of the Denmark coaching staff, but I have two children at home who play football and I chose them.”
The former midfielder went on to discuss the dramatic 3-3 draw against Hellas Verona: “Udinese played really well at the start and had plenty of confidence. An unfortunate penalty then opened the game back up. The fear of losing then crept in and they got their goal. In the 97th minute, you need to be more sensible and not just boot the ball, but experience will help with that.
“You pay dearly for these mistakes, but this is a young team that play good football. You need a bit of time and clear-headedness. That’s key when you’re towards the bottom of the table. The fans need to be right behind the team. It’s going to be a tough season, but we also had difficult times when I was here. The club should still feel proud.”
To finish off, Jorgensen also had some words of advice for fellow Dane Thomas Kristensen, who also played for Aarhus: “I’d advise him to learn Italian straight away. He needs to go to the bars, drink wine and eat Italian ham like I did. That’s how he’ll be able to learn the language and won’t just stay at home. He needs to train hard as well. On a technical level, he needs to be a bit more focused, but he’s a good player.
“We don’t think about defending that much in Denmark, so he’ll need to adopt the Italian mentality.”