Manchester United legend Michael Carrick has today revealed his battle with depression, which first engulfed his life after the 2009 Champions League final defeat to Barcelona in Rome.
Carrick has published his autobiography Between the Lines, and ahead of the book's serialisation in The Times, the former midfielder gave an interview to the paper.
In spite of winning the European Cup the year before, losing to Pep Guardiola's first Barca team in Rome in '09 sent Carrick into a depression from which he took more than a year to clamber from. In that game, Carrick's loose header was pounced on by Andrés Iniesta, who set up the opening goal for Samuel Eto'o. Barcelona dominated from there, and won the final 2-0.
"I beat myself up over that goal,” Carrick told The Times. “I kept asking myself: ‘Why did I do that?’ and then it snowballed from there. It was a tough year after that. It lingered for a long time".
Carrick was still suffering from depression a year later, and almost left the England squad at the World Cup.
Now a coach at United, Carrick gives fans and anyone critical of footballers something to ponder.
As a footballer you are expected to be that machine that just churns out results after results, performance after performance. You are paid well and you play for a big club so why can’t he be good every week?
It’s just not like that. It’s not easy to do that and it’s easy to forget that. There could be all sorts going on that you don’t know about.
Read the full interview here.
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