AC Milan's central defender, Simon Kjaer, granted an interview to Danish media as he said these words ahead of the Champions Leagu's firs leg semi-final versus Inter. Here are his words:
"How to prove that I belong in Milan? It's in the everyday, it's in the work I do every day and obviously the matches have an influence, because it depends on how well you play, that's where you're measured, but I don't think the club has any doubts about my attitude. They can see how professional I am, they can see how much I care, and I've also tried too hard to say that I'm thinking about many years in the future."
On his future, Kjaer said:
"As I said last time I got injured, it was at the strangest moment in my career. But at this point I don't see why I should stop in the near future. When I see that there's always a lot to gain, physically and mentally, and the whole process of how much you can actually gain at any given moment. So it's a myth that you're old. At 34 it's not true that you're old. It's only in your head. When you're old, it's only in your head, because the body is still fine and I feel good, so I still have many years in football. Even at the highest level, so I don't intend to stop soon."
On staying beyond 2024 with AC Milan:
"Yes, I hope so. There are two parts, a coach and many things that come into play. But I will definitely do my part. This is where I want to end up, it's the club I've always dreamed of ending up at. So I hope to end up here too, but not soon."
Kjaer, what are the lessons learned from the injury:
"I have no stress. There's no stress. One of the things I learned from the injury is to take one day at a time. Really live. What the days give you and what the days offer you. They can be beautiful and ugly. But the ugly days are the ones where you have to find the percentages. Because those days are maybe more tied to the discipline of finishing things. When you're motivated, you train, but it's on the difficult days, when you don't feel like working, that you have to make an effort. And that's where the sheep are separated from the goats (in Danish slang, ed.). That's where you get the percentages. That's how I live my life. From a football point of view. I know what to expect on the 10th... and the 16th (Euro derby, ed.), but I also know what to expect on Wednesday. I know what to expect on Saturday. It's a process, but those are the days I live. If I live this way, I can't think about the 25th, the 26th and the 27th. I wouldn't get anything out of it. It's not something I have control over."
Differences compared to the beginning of his career:
"They are two completely different lifestyles. They are two different choices. How you choose to live. If you can find peace, if you can find joy in the way you work hard or don't work hard... I thought I was working hard when I was younger. It's not like that. So there's always something you can change. There's always something you can do to improve. And that's also what drives me. I think it's beautiful", said Kjaer, "I mean, the days when you suffer and these things, the feeling you have when you come home is that it was a good training session and that you did what you had to do. Then you wake up the next day and you're pretty destroyed, and you have to do it again, but I like the process behind it."
