Per Mertesacker: The effects of football on a professional player

Current Arsenal captain Per Metersacker opened up on the challenges faced by professional players before the game. The 33-year-old centre-back revealed that he suffers from anxiety attacks and sometimes feels like vomiting if he turns his stomach. The player goes to extremes of chocking himself violently in order to avoid that from happening. Imagine what everyone else goes through if the captain of the team struggles like this. No wonder the Arsenal team often shows lack of fight and bravery when it matters the most. The soon-to-retire player also reflected on the match between Germany and Italy which was played in 2006 when he was still 21 years old. He talked about how he could not wait for the match to end because it was a burden both physically and mentally. It seems that there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes before the matches start. Let us wait to hear other confessions of players when they are about to retire.