Martin Laursen
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| Martin Laursen | ||
 |
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Martin Laursen | |
| Date of birth | 26 July 1977 | |
| Place of birth | Fårvang, Denmark | |
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | |
| Playing position | Centre back | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Retired | |
| Youth career | ||
| Horn-Fårvang IF | ||
| Senior career1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1995–1998 1998–2001 2001–2002 2001–2002 2002–2004 2004–2009 |
Silkeborg Hellas Verona Parma → Milan (loan) Milan Aston Villa Total |
35 (1) 58 (3) 0 (0) 22 (2) 10 (0) 91 (11) 209 (14) |
| National team | ||
| 2000–2008 | Denmark | 53 (2) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Martin Laursen (born 26 July 1977 in Fårvang, Denmark) is a retired Danish professional football player who played as a centre back. He had most recently been the captain of Aston Villa. Laursen was capped 53 times and scored two goals for the Denmark national football team, whom he represented in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and two European Championship tournaments. On 15 May 2009, he announced his decision to retire from football rather than undergo major surgery.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Laursen started his senior career with Danish club Silkeborg, whom he helped steer to second place in the 1997–98 season.
[edit] Hellas Verona
After three seasons at Silkeborg, he moved to Italy to play for then Serie B outfit Hellas Verona in August 1998. The contact with Verona was mediated by former Verona player and Silkeborg manager Preben Elkjær. Laursen was plagued by a knee injury for the majority of his first season at Verona, where the club won promotion to the top-flight Serie A. Laursen conquered a place in the starting line-up during his second season in Italy. Laursen was often known as Lionheart Laursen by his loyal fans, describing his courage and great ability to time his headers.
[edit] Milan
Seeking a high profile move, Parma, who already jointly owned Laursen with Verona, made a successful bid for his services. Following only three weeks of training at the club, Laursen was eventually picked up by AC Milan in a £8.7 million bid, who needed depth in their squad due to injuries. Laursen started out strong for his new club, scoring two goals in his first four league matches, but as Milan's regular defenders came back from injury, he saw his playing time diminishing.
Though winning silverware with Milan in 2003, Laursen failed to appear in the UEFA Champions League final. Due to the presence of Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta, Laursen failed to establish himself in Milan's first team in the long run.
[edit] Aston Villa
On 21 May 2004, Laursen was bought by English Premiership side Aston Villa for £3 million, on a four-year contract. He played a solid Euro 2004 for Denmark, again playing full time in all Denmark's games, before he moved to play for Aston Villa. His debut with Villa came against Southampton on 14 August, a match which ended 2-0 in Villa's favour.
Laursen's time at Villa initially proved frustrating. He put in a few encouraging performances on and off, during the 2004–05 season, but the knee injury that has plagued him earlier in his career returned and kept Laursen at playing a single match for Aston Villa during the 2005–06 season. After a re-occurrence of the knee injury during the summer 2006 off-season, his playing future at club and international level was seen to be in doubt. He underwent a full rehabilitation in Bologna, where he spent most of the 2005–06 season, and returned to the Aston Villa side in August 2006.
Laursen became an effective goalscorer for Aston Villa during the 2007–08 season, scoring 6 goals from centre back including three goals against Tottenham Hotspur, two of which came in a thrilling 4–4 draw at White Hart Lane, the other coming in a 2–1 home victory.
Laursen agreed terms on a new 2 and a half year deal with Aston Villa on 17 January 2008.[2] He was voted the Supporters' Player of the Year in 2008, following his impressive form in the 2007/2008 season.
In Aston Villa's first game of the season, in the Intertoto Cup, Laursen captained the side and continued his goal-scoring record from set pieces by scoring Villa's second goal against Odense BK, which eventually finished 2-2. Laursen also managed to get onto the scoresheet in UEFA Cup match with FH Hafnarfjörður , and against Stoke City in the Premiership. On 23 October 2008, Laursen gave Aston Villa the lead in the UEFA Cup game against Ajax with a header from close-range. Villa went on to win the match 2-1.
Since then, the Danish international returned to form, and was an integral part of Martin O'Neill's plans, whilst distinguishing himself as one of the league's top defenders.
Laursen replaced Gareth Barry as club captain for Aston Villa on a permanent basis for the 2008-2009 season.
On 22 April 2009, O'Neill expressed fears that Laursen's career may be over following a string of injuries, the latest of which has kept him out of action since January and if treated would take 10 months to recover.
On 15 May, Laursen confirmed his retirement from football due to a knee injury.[3] 24 May saw Aston Villa's final game of the season at home to Newcastle United. Prior to kick-off, Laursen appeared in front of the Villa Park crowd and performed a speech to thank the fans and wish them well for the future. Following this, he was inducted into the "Villa Legends" section of Aston Villa's official website.[4]
[edit] International career
He made his debut for the Denmark national team in a friendly match against Portugal in March 2000. He was a part of the Denmark squad at the 2000 European Championship (Euro 2000), though he did not play a single game due to injury.
Laursen's breakthrough with the national team came at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, when he played full time in all four Denmark games before elimination. Laursen scored his first goal for his country in September 2003, in the UEFA Euro 2004, an all-important goal in injury time of the penultimate qualification match. His goal levelled the game with Romania to 2–2, and kept Denmark in the race for a place at the final competition. Laursen and the Denmark team secured qualification when they drew the last game, thus winning their qualification group.
After his absence from the Danish national team for more than one and a half years, he was called up in November 2006, but had to withdraw due to yet another knee injury.
On 29 January 2009, Laursen announced his retirement from international football.[5] He played his last international game on 11 October 2008 against Malta.
[edit] International goals
- Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2003-09-10 | Copenhagen, Denmark |  Romania |
2-2 | 2-2 | UEFA Euro 2004 Qual. |
| 2 | 2007-09-12 | Aarhus, Denmark |  Liechtenstein |
2-0 | 4-0 | UEFA Euro 2008 Qual. |
[edit] Honours
Milan
Individual
[edit] References
- ^ "Laursen Retires". Aston Villa F.C.. http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~1658073,00.html.
- ^ "Laursen agrees new deal at Villa". BBC Sport. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/7187909.stm.
- ^ Laursen hangs up his boots
- ^ http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/VillaLegends/0,,10265,00.html
- ^ "Laursen's Big Devision". Aston Villa F.C.. http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~1537781,00.html.
[edit] External links
- Danish national team profile
- FootballDatabase career stats
- Martin Laursen career stats at Soccerbase
- Martin Laursen FIFA competition record
