Louis Saha admits footballers often feel they have an air of invincibility.
It is easy to think you are untouchable when you are starring for a top club or representing your country.
But as Saha knows only too well, dreams can be shattered in an instant as he reflects on missing two of the biggest moments in his career.
A booking against Portugal saw him ruled out of France’s World Cup final defeat to Italy in 2006 through suspension.
And just one more day’s recovery and rest from a groin injury might have been enough to allow him to play in Manchester United’s penalty shoot-out Champions League victory over Chelsea two years later. The heartbreak still lingers as he says: “We can talk about the highlights of a career, but these two moments were the hardest for me as a footballer.
“As a footballer you are crying for those sort of experiences and opportunities to lift the trophy, but that was like, poof and gone, you just don’t understand it.
“God has given you the opportunity and then taken it away…and I didn’t have the time to do it.
“It was a horrible feeling watching from the bench in the World Cup final, you can’t do anything and it’s all out of your control. It was a really hard moment and all your brain wants to do is try to forget. But then the Champions League final came and it was another horrible feeling because you experienced it all before in 2006.
“To happen two years after that was just unfair. You feel like you are cursed, you know.”
But after spells at Everton, Tottenham and Sunderland, Saha ended his career a year ago in Serie A with Lazio – and a record of 159 goals in 492 club games and four in 20 for France.
“I did a pretty good job,” he adds. “I was lucky enough to be an international, such great clubs and able to fulfil some kind of dreams.
“I had that commitment, wanted to do the best. I was a boy, an innocent boy who wanted to play and prove myself in front of the best. That doesn’t exist anymore. Football is different now, no doubt about it. Maybe it’s about the money. It has become a very precise industry, everything is top brand, top end and doesn’t give space to passion or emotion as it used to be.
“But, of course I still miss it. Every time I see it on TV I prefer not to watch it because it gives me too much regret, but at the same time I just can’t stop it. There is nothing I could have done to change things, the bad luck or that my body was this way.”
Still, when Saha was fit and on form he was a feared frontman. During his spell at Old Trafford he scored 28 goals in 86 games and helped United win the Premier League title twice.
Saha inherited the No9 shirt in January, 2004, as the legendary Andy Cole departed. Having already made his mark at Metz, Newcastle and Fulham before a £12.8 million (Dh73.4m) move to United, the Frenchman was not overawed on his debut against Southampton, scoring the first goal in a 3-2 win.
Despite injury troubles, five more followed in as many league games.
But he is well aware of the burden of expectation at United, and even more so now, after a season of failure that saw David Moyes lose his job and Louis van Gaal brought in to revive their fortunes.
Saha worked under Moyes at Everton – a club which he believes is a “great club, a growing club” – and felt he needed more time to exert his influence after replacing Sir Alex Ferguson.
But failure – and seventh place in the league – is not regarded as an option for a club of United’s stature and Saha expects a frontline of Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao and Wayne Rooney to help continue the recent upturn in fortunes at Old Trafford. “United are a special club, it’s special to play for them,” he says. “They tried to bring through youth but they have now changed that. They have decided to go for big players and big transfers and [Angel] Di Maria and Falcao represent that.
“Sometimes that’s what you need to get back, to spend on proven players. I like Falcao a lot and think he will do well once he settles and recovers from injury.
“There’s pressure being a striker for United, but not so much as any other team. Over the years all the proper stars, like Andy Cole or Ruud van Nistelrooy, had that same ability.
“But you need to feed them, to give them opportunities and when that happens they score. They are all top strikers and Falcao is a killer. For me, United have been missing that for the last three or four years. He can make the difference between winning trophies. You need a top striker and goalkeeper, these two combinations are the most important areas in a team and United have that.
“If you see teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, the best teams who have big players up front, it’s not about defending but the mentality and the positivity. It’s how you defend as a team, not who is defending.
“And with United, I always believe they will score. I am hopeful things will improve.”
There is a sense of acceptance about his own career, even though many feel Saha, now 36, might have achieved more for club and country had injuries not taken their toll.
He admits luck plays a big part in the game and why he is hoping his new venture will help others and people from different sports in the future. Saha has helped set up AxisStars and Axis 10 Sports Consulting Group, which offers support and advice to professional athletes, coaches and agents, and a network for them to chat about various issues and better manage their careers.
“During the career you have big choices to make,” he says. “It’s a hard moment.
“In this industry you have to trust people, get an agent, listen to advisers and it’s all difficult, especially when you are starting out. You have to play, you have to win.
“We want to have a tool that players can understand where to go, across Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. If you want to be smarter and have the knowledge you need to have guidance.”
