John Jensen was interrupted while washing the car outside his home last week, and the passer-by’s grateful aside was one he has heard so many times before: ‘Thank you so much for that goal, I will never forget where I was that night.’
The former Arsenal midfielder was one of the heroes as outsiders Denmark pulled off international football’s greatest fairy tale by winning the 1992 European Championship, having been parachuted in off the beach at the last minute with civil war tearing apart original qualifiers Yugoslavia.
And the ‘war’ theme is one Jensen, now 52, is not afraid to use when trying to find an apt comparison for the feelings of joy unleashed by the stunning 2-0 final win over then reigning world champions Germany at the Ullevi in Gothenburg 25 years ago.