Bidding Adieu To The Little Mozart – A Look At Tomas Rosicky’s Life And Career

Bidding Adieu To The Little Mozart – A Look At Tomas Rosicky’s Life And Career

When it comes to football, the fans feel very strongly about two sets of footballers – the ones they dislike and the ones they love. As far as the first group is concerned, a good majority of people tend to dislike a lot of things about them. Be it their aggression or style of play, there is always something that does not bode well for a lot of people. The second group, however, includes players that every single person loves and admirers. The likes of Gigi Buffon, Pele, Ronaldinho, Totti and Kaka have been a few names to grace that list so far. News of their retirement affected millions of football fans worldwide, regardless of which club they support.

It was only about a month or two back that Buffon announced his retirement and now, Tomas Rosicky has joined in on the list.

Very few times do players get to achieve cult-status at two different clubs across leagues. And yet, Rosicky is considered an iconic figure for both Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal. There is no denying that things are very different in the Bundesliga and Premier League. Sometimes, switching leagues can hamper a player’s skills. Take a look at what happened with Radamel Falcao, for example. When he made the move from Monaco to Manchester United, he failed to make much of an impact and was dubbed a failure even though he was spectacular at Atletico Madrid.

Unless a player is already a modern-day legend like Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham or Zlatan Ibrahimovic, it is very tough for them to establish and build a reputation in a different club in a foreign league. But Rosicky came through in both situations and is still widely recognized as a Dortmund and Arsenal superstar.

Nicknamed the ‘little Mozart’ at a very early age, Rosicky embarked on his football career with his hometown club Sparta Prague. He spent 3 seasons playing in the Czech First League and then joined Borussia Dortmund in 2001 for an estimated sum of £18 million, which at the time was a record fee for a Bundesliga club.

In his debut season itself, Rosicky’s influence and playmaking skills came up to the fore, which eventually helped the German club to win their first Bundesliga title of the century. He even reached the 2002 UEFA Cup Final with Dortmund that year and after spending 4 more years at the club, Rosicky switched to Arsenal in 2006.

Since then, the player went on to spend a decade at the club. In total, he made 247 appearances for the club, even though his tenure was affected by several long-term injuries. In fact, Rosicky actually learnt how to play the guitar during one of his injuries! It was in the 2009-10 season when he was injured and had to spend quite some time being sidelined. That was when he started playing the guitar and eventually became so good that he even played live on stage with a Czech rock band called Tri sestry in March 2010.

Rosicky is known to love being centre-stage, so it comes as no surprise that he enjoyed performing with the band. While he was playing with Dortmund, there was this one incident that probably continues to live on in the hearts of many of their fans. The year was 2006 and the season was coming to a close. There was a battle between Hamburg and Bayern Munich in terms of winning the league and mid-table Dortmund were playing a decisive match with Hamburg. The fact that a goalkeeper should never leave his net was a lesson learnt quite harshly by Hamburg’s goalkeeper Sacha Kirschstein.

He darted up the field and after a moment of confusion, Dortmund snatched possession and Ebi Smolarek sent it Rosicky’s way. Even though he was still about 40 metres away from the empty net, the midfielder knew there was no way any of Hamburg’s defenders would get to him and neither would their visibly frustrated goalkeeper. Rosicky broke into a celebratory dance as he surged ahead and neatly slotted the ball into the net. His celebrations continued and that was a truly iconic moment in his career.

Known for his technical wizardry, passing accuracy, speed and vision, Rosicky boasted of all the qualities a playmaker must have. Much like a lot of other prolific players, his career was stunted by a series of injuries. Despite that, what he has done for Prague, Dortmund and Arsenal remain unrivalled.

Maybe if he had managed to stay fit, he could have established himself as a player with greater accolades. However, that is the beauty of the game. At the end of the day, it does not matter how many trophies you win as a player. As long as you manage to strike a chord with the fans, you will live on forever in their hearts and that is something Rosicky has managed to do in abundance.