Lazio veteran Miroslav Klose joked about his career options. “I’m not done yet, I just stopped training this old cadaver for Germany.”
The 36-year-old retired from international duty after winning the World Cup in 2014 and becoming the top all-time scorer in the tournament.
“The moment I decide not to play football any more, I’ll get a nice glass of beer or wine, sit down and think of all that I have done,” he told French magazine So Foot.
Lazio veteran Miroslav Klose joked about his career options. “I’m not done yet, I just stopped training this old cadaver for Germany.”
The 36-year-old retired from international duty after winning the World Cup in 2014 and becoming the top all-time scorer in the tournament.
“The moment I decide not to play football any more, I’ll get a nice glass of beer or wine, sit down and think of all that I have done,” he told French magazine So Foot.
“But I’m not done yet, I just decided that I’d stop training this old cadaver for the German national team.
“I was out fishing on a boat and was there on my own. I thought about the number of games I’d played for Germany – 137.
“If you put the digits together, 1+3+7 is 11, my shirt number. It seemed like the perfect moment to stop. I told my Coach straight away and he knows I won’t go back on my decision, as I never have done.”
Klose also discussed his early days and how he has seen football change.
“I started playing at Kaiserslautern. When we trained, the older players would fire off target and I had to go and pick them up.
“Nowadays a player doesn’t learn to do these small things that were important for me. At the same time, when you were 19 or 20 and dared to nutmeg a more experienced player, he wanted to beat you up!
“Now things have changed so much. When you’re about to go into a tough tackle you hear ‘wait, he cost €20m!’
“Today players immediately get put in huge hotels, have massive cars and earn a lot of money. Good for them, but many don’t know how to keep their feet on the ground.”