Jari Litmanen interview: Battling long Covid, winning over Van Gaal, and his lifelong Liverpool love

Hotel Anfield’s front bar falls momentarily quiet as word spreads: Jari Litmanen has taken a seat. Within minutes a steady stream of red-shirted supporters forms, each hoping to shake the hand of the man whose subtle genius still sparkles in Kop folklore a quarter-century after he first pulled on the Liverbird. The fixture that draws him back is Liverpool versus Manchester City, but the conversation that follows is less about tonight’s title implications and more about a life defined by resilience, romance with the game, and a refusal to bow to circumstance.

“It’s so good to be back,” Litmanen says, eyes scanning photographs of past glories on the walls. “Liverpool was my team when I was growing up as a kid and I was fortunate enough to play here. These days I’m a fan.” The affection is reciprocated globally; in Asia, he notes, supporters still greet him primarily as a Liverpool player rather than as the Ajax icon who collected four Dutch titles and a Champions League winner’s medal. “That’s something special,” he admits.

Now 54, the Finn splits his weeks between family life in Tallinn and television studios in Helsinki, where he dissects matches for Finnish viewers. Yet the pundit’s suit has not replaced the player’s boots entirely. Last October he briefly came out of retirement to turn out alongside his sons, 17-year-old Caro and 19-year-old Bruno, for Tallinna Kalev Juunior in Estonia’s fourth tier. “To share the pitch with them like that was amazing,” he smiles. “The other young lads didn’t know anything about me, but their parents knew. After the game, they were the ones wanting selfies.”

That vignette of fatherhood and football felt impossible only a short time ago. In March 2020 Litmanen was struck by Covid-19; the virus burrowed deep, evolving into the prolonged exhaustion and neurological fog of long Covid. “I didn’t have the strength to do anything. I couldn’t sleep well and I couldn’t walk properly,” he recalls. “For three or four months I could only manage ten minutes before being completely tired.” Four years passed without him kicking a ball in earnest. His renaissance arrived in May 2024 at a legends meeting between Liverpool and Ajax, when he appeared for both sides. “For my mental health it was so important to be out there again. Since then I’ve played six or seven legends games. I can say I am almost fully recovered.”

The nickname Kuningas—The King—was earned through deeds that began on the frozen pitches of Lahti, where at 16 he debuted for Reipas, following his father Olavi into the professional ranks. A move to HJK and then MyPa preceded the 1992 Finnish Cup triumph that alerted Europe’s scouts. Ajax invited him for a three-day trial. Louis van Gaal, unimpressed after an initial training match, suggested sending the unknown Finn home. The chief scout pleaded for one more look, this time with Litmanen stationed as a No 10. Ajax won 8-2; Litmanen scored four and assisted two. Van Gaal’s verdict the next morning was succinct: “Do you want to come here? We’ll talk about your contract tomorrow.”

Litmanen proved an ideal successor to Dennis Bergkamp, winning Dutch Footballer of the Year in 1993 and the Eredivisie Golden Boot the following season. He started the 1995 Champions League final against Milan and finished the 1995-96 campaign as the competition’s top scorer with nine goals. “We were not the best players around,” he says of that Ajax collective featuring Edwin van der Sar, the De Boer brothers, Seedorf, Davids, Overmars, Kluivert and Kanu, “but together we were really strong.”

Injuries stalked him after his 1999 switch to Barcelona, where Van Gaal again took charge. When the coach departed and Rivaldo inherited the No 10 shirt, Litmanen’s path narrowed. Liverpool, long enamoured—Roy Evans had tried to buy him in 1997—rekindled interest. Gerard Houllier brought him to Merseyside on a free in January 2001. “I knew Erik Meijer from Holland,” he laughs, recounting how a chance encounter at Manchester Airport led to him purchasing the striker’s house. “An easy deal to do.”

Litmanen’s Premier League debut at Aston Villa showcased his velvet touch, yet a calf complaint denied him a place at the League Cup final. Worse followed in a World Cup qualifier against England at Anfield: a tangle with Rio Ferdinand left him with a fractured wrist and, after he played on, dizziness that culminated in a dressing-room collapse. The injury ended his season; he watched from the stands as Houllier’s men completed a cup treble. The next campaign brought 32 appearances but only 13 starts, Owen and Heskey preferred up front. Nine goals in 43 games were enough to secure cult status, if not a starting berth, and in 2002 he returned to Ajax, mentoring a teenage Zlatan Ibrahimovic and collecting another league title.

A peripatetic twilight followed: Malmo, where a rogue lemonade-bottle top injured his eye; Fulham, where an irregular heartbeat and concussion prevented competitive minutes; and 137 caps for Finland across four decades. A statue now stands outside Lahti’s stadium. “The body of that statue is much stronger than mine,” he jokes, “but what means more is that I played for the national team for 21 years.”

Critics sometimes frame his story as one of unfulfilled promise, of injuries robbing the game of a potential multiple Ballon d’Or winner. Litmanen rejects the lament. “When I was 14 and said I wanted to be a professional, people said I was crazy. I dreamed of playing for one of Europe’s big clubs. I ended up playing for three of them. Dealing with setbacks is part of the life of a footballer. I look back positively. I’m at peace.”

As another wave of supporters approach for photographs, he rises, offering autographs and that familiar, easy smile. Long Covid may have stolen four years, but it has not dimmed the joy football brings him, nor the warmth Liverpool fans feel for the King of Finland who still regards Anfield as home.