by Leeds United returns to Arsenal on Saturday, in a match that provided one of their most lively victories of a generation. It was the penultimate weekend of the 2002-03 season, the two teams needing a victory: Arsenal to stay in the running to keep the League, Leeds to avoid relegation.
Leeds, vacillating after several years at the upper end of the table, rediscovered the form that had taken them to Europe for the previous three seasons. They won 3-2, putting the title back to Manchester United. Highbury is gone, but the kit that Leeds wears this weekend will be evocative of this day – a step back to the outfit sponsored by the Blue and Yellow Bow carried with distinction by Mark Viduka.
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The launching video of the new kit presented Viduka alongside some of its former teammates – Nigel Martyn, Ian Harte and Dominic Matteo – but there was no meeting dinner.
“We all did it at different times; I was in the afternoon, Nigel was in the morning, ”he says. “But I saw a lot: Dominic, Ian and Eddie Gray too.”
It is an era of which he and the supporters of Leeds remember with great tenderness, even if it preceded a long fate far from the elite.
A famous day in Highbury
The overhaul of the 2003 game provides ammunition to the nostalgic crowd “When Football Was Better”. He is indebted Pacy, never created and scored by spectacular goals, in particular the opening of Harry Kewell and the winner of Viduka.
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With two minutes on the left the Australian, probably offside, the hares after a bouncing bullet beaten forward by Matteo, dropping him with his chest. There is a high -speed Cruyff tour towards Bamboozle Oleg Luzhny, a nice touch to open the chance, then a powerful curling to beat David Seaman.
When you score a goal like this, do you immediately think “it’s a good one”? “Of course you do it, that’s why you play. It was a special day for us, we were fighting for our lives and they were trying to stay in the title race,” explains Viduka.
“If you watch the game, you can see the emergency, it’s 100 MPH. It’s not something you don’t do normally, every day, you try to reach the maximum, but a game like that, you think about it a week before, it’s in the bottom of your mind all the time.”
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Looking against Liverpool
It was a defaulting start for Viduka in Leeds after joining Celtic in the summer of 2000. He injured his ankle in training shortly after joining, then took a break at the start of the season for international commitments. “I had promised the national team that I would play at the Sydney Olympic Games and I didn’t want to come back to it. By backing up, it was not a good thing to do, because I came to a new club and it disturbed things. ”
Upon his return, he announced himself. It was the closest weekend to the Guy Fawkes evening, and a kick-off of 11:30 am in Elland Road against Liverpool. The preparations were sub-optimal. “I had a rottweiler which was really stressed by fireworks and she fled. My Musse called me about three times in the middle of the night. Basically, I had a look, I said that if I had a shock tomorrow, it will be your fault. ”
Leeds was without key players, then exhausted when Jonathan Woodgate came out. They were 2-0 within 20 minutes. What followed was a Viduka goal clinic. A calm chip on Sander Westerveld after a loose pass-rear, a graceful header close to the post, superb strength, skill and a goal of his hat-trick, then another tower and smart clip to guarantee a 4-3 victory.
“It was not an day when I had an incredible game. Very rarely, a game arrives when you get four chances and you put four of them. You come home after a match like that and you are exhausted, but I had no dog, so I had to get it. It took three days to find it.”
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Imagine what he would have done a good night’s sleep. “After that, I told my wife that she had to wake me up all the time.”
“ I liked Batty, he would not be fanny about ”
The European achievements of Leeds of this season become even more remarkable. They sailed in the double group phase of the Champions League and reached the semi-finals, losing against Valencia by Rafael Benítez.
“It was a huge adventure for us, playing in Europe against big clubs. My favorite was to play Lazio in Rome. It was exciting for us and for fans, something that will remain with me forever.”
Alan Smith marks the winner of Leeds after Angelo Peruzzi of Lazio in the favorite game of Viduka – Reuters / Paolo Cocco
It was as much as the business as glory. “It was a pleasure to go there every day and spend time with these people.” Viduka is not interested in the spotlight, but one of his teammates has practically disappeared since his retirement. Where is David Batty? “I don’t think many people told him about it,” he said.
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“I liked Batts, he was a direct guy. When I think back to the matches, he served me very well since the midfielder, he was a direct player. His passage was very good and he would not be too faded.”
“ Ridsdale wanted Leeds to manage well, many clubs struggled ”
The re -evaluation of the period tend to focus on the financial generosity of Leeds, but for Viduka, it was the departure of David O’Leary which was the key moment. “Everything changed after that. I did not know the ins and outs of what was happening financially. But in the locker room, it was a big change.”
Terry Venables followed, a man in which he had worked for his national team. “I was happy at the start, but the circumstances around the club at the time were probably not the best. When it came, it was said that we had to sell players, so every month, we let go of very good players. Whether or not it affects everything. “
Terry Venables was under pressure to sell players from the moment he joined the club in 2002 – PA / Gareth Copley
There was a fall with the successor of Venables, Peter Reid, in charge at the time of the Arsenal game in 2003. “I had no problem with him. Later, we had some disputes. I guess it is because of the environment of the cueillette holder in which we were both.
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Finally, Eddie Gray. “I loved him, he was like a paternal figure for everyone, especially young guys. A very nice man, I only have the nicest words for him; All I can say are good things about it. ”
There will be no criticism of the man who is generally blamed for the fall of Leeds either. “I don’t think [Roman] Abramovich did not come for them, would have been in the same position. We were not unlucky that no one with this type of money came and bought us. »»
“ Joe Kinnear’s experience was … unusual ”
Then, a move to Middlesbrough and another astonishing campaign of Europe, finalists of the 2006 UEFA Cup. Gareth Southgate was on the team with him at the start, then his manager. “His first step would probably have been the most difficult, he had to inform the people who were his comrades. But Gareth is this type of guy, he was made for this kind of role. It is a respect for land-to-terre players, it was a natural thing for him to progress as a manager.”
Viduka famous after having marked for Middlesbrough against Steaua Bucharest in the semi -final of the UEFA Cup – AP / Scott Heppell
Viduka’s final transfer has placed him in spearhead of a theoretically superb attack with Michael Owen and Obafemi Martins in Newcastle, but to date, injuries were starting to accumulate and it was removed in the two years. Sam Allarcyce bought it, Alan Shearer was in charge for his last match and his best spell fell under Kevin Keegan, but there was another manager in Tyneside.
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“The experience of Joe Kinnear, I would say that the best word would be … What could I say? Unusual. I don’t think he was a bad guy, but he left for a long time and thrown at the deep end.” Was there a time when he and his teammates realized that Kinnear may not have the answer? “It was probably when he didn’t know who was half of the players.”
“ I love my freedom too much to return to football ”
These days, Viduka lives in Zagreb, where he runs a coffee on the outskirts of the city, either. “You could say that I am a coffee snob. I like a Cornoto, not too much milk. The flat whites are not for me, guy. “
Viduka has a coffee in the coffee he has in Zagreb – X / Twitter / Mark Viduka
His Croatian parents emigrated to Australia in the 1960s and Viduka had visited the country once before the start of the war of independence in 1991. He returned in 1995, spending three years with Dinamo Zagreb before his move to Celtic and loved him enough to move definitively after retirement.
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There is no immediate plan to manage or coach. “I continue to play with that but I love my freedom too much. It is very stressful and football is a type of 24 hours and seven days, your whole life must revolve around it. I like to do what I want to do when I want to do it. ”
Among other things that include playing your guitars. “I have a few, a Fender Stratocaster and a Gibson Les Paul. I bought that in Leeds and I have a photo of my son, who was born in Leeds, leaning over it when he started to walk. Now he plays there. “
Who is the best? “It is definitely.” But probably, Dad can still claim supremacy as a footballer? “On paper, yeah. I don’t think I could run, but I couldn’t run the best days anymore.”
