Jesper Blomqvist: Manchester United’s Treble-winning winger invites SunSport to try his caviar-topped pizza as he talks Fergie, Roy Keane and Zlatan Ibrahimovic
SunSport sat down with the former winger to talk about his life in retirement - and to tuck into some pizza
JESPER BLOMQVIST becomes animated as he dusts the work surface with flour and begins a masterclass in kneading dough.
For the past hour, Manchester United's Treble-winning winger has pondered the club’s recent problems, assessed Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s departure, recalled rejecting Fergie and remembered a raging Roy Keane.
But as he fastens up his apron and spoons tomato sauce onto a spongy pizza base, the Swede is ready for action in this new world of work.
For six months ago Blomqvist and his two business partners, Janne and Blendi, opened a pizzeria on the picturesque Swedish island of Lidingo, a 10-minute train ride from Stockholm and home to half of ABBA.
So far, so good—but it has been far from easy.
“I can honestly say I’ve never worked so hard in my whole life,” the 44-year-old tells SunSport, puffing out his cheeks as he sits at a table in 450 Gradi.
Blomqvist’s Italian-themed restaurant looks out over the calm waters of the Baltic Sea on a tree-lined bay which has been burnt a deep orange by the autumn months.
Here, he feels at home.
After retiring from football in 2010 due to injury and age after spells at Everton and Charlton, the former Sweden international looked for a new path to follow.
“I did coaching and TV [punditry], I tried other things like travelling which is OK, but I never felt the real passion for it like I do for food,” says Blomqvist, who did a university course on food and wine pairing.
“It’s always been there a little bit but when I played two years in Italy [for AC Milan and Parma] that’s where it all started.
“For me, Italian food is the best. They have this passion for produce, just single products to let them speak their own mind, not mixing too much and making it complicated.”
Blomqvist is asked almost daily about his favourite pizza. “We have so many different ones but I think the Margherita, the most simple one,” he says.
And it is here that the tasting session begins.
Into the 450-degree wood-burning oven for between 60 and 90 seconds and out again, onto a plate, sliced up and down the hatch.
But is it any good? This born-again culinary critic has only one question to ask: When will the next one be ready?
“Leave the crust to save some room,” Janne advises, but the temptation is too great.
Blomqvist, Janne and Blendi show great pride in the four pizzas they serve up today, from the caviar-topped Kalix to the garlic-infused Vasterbottensost, finished off with a Nutella sweet.
Meals such as this remind Blomqvist of his year at AC Milan’s Milanello training base that “was almost a five-star restaurant”.
When he moved to United in 1998, the approach to grub was slightly different. “You still had scrambled egg and beans on toast before a game,” Blomqvist recalls.
One memory sticks out, though. The iconic 3-2 win over Juventus saw United through to the Champions League final, but that isn’t the story Blomqvist wants to tell.
“We stayed in a really nice Italian hotel,” he recalls.
“It had a restaurant but then they opened up the suitcases and bring out tins of Heinz spaghetti and tomato sauce. Maybe it was so as not to be food poisoned, I don’t know.
“But for me that was like: No, you can’t do this. We’re in Italy and you bring tins of Heinz?!”
That night in Turin showed United’s togetherness as they came from two goals down to win against the might of a Juve team boasting Deschamps, Davids and Zindane.
There was one small moment of division, though.
Keane yelled at Blomqvist as he accused him of a hospital pass that saw the Irishman foul Zidane and pick up a booking to ban him the final.
“Of course he was angry because it was a big game to miss,” Blomqvist says. “But I think it was a bit harsh to blame me for that yellow card.
“I’ve looked at the video again and I think even he can have a laugh about it, and I don’t think it was that bad.”
Blomqvist could have been a United player four years earlier. “Ferguson contacted me. He was interested in 1994 but I decided to stay, it was too early for me,” he says.
“Then ’96 I felt I was ready to move abroad. I didn’t have an agent and I just said to everybody, ‘If you bring AC Milan, I will sign for them and you.’
“I spoke to Kevin Keegan at Newcastle, to Sir Alex, to Sven-Goran [Eriksson] at Sampdoria. Barcelona came to visit with [Johan] Cruyff.
“I wrote an essay at school about wanting to play for Milan and was so determined that I declined Sir Alex.”
When Blomqvist eventually did accept Fergie, he was a witness to the infamous hairdryer. “I had it once or twice, and it wasn’t so fun at the time,” he says, laughing.
“After a while you realised it was more about getting the team going rather than just singling one player out. It was a way of showing his passion and he showed that all the time.”
Blomqvist was back at Old Trafford with his six-year-old son to watch the 1-0 defeat to Juventus.
Playing in Legends games and doing work as a club ambassador has seen Blomqvist develop from employee to fan in the years since he left.
Blomqvist feels the pain of a supporter now, but doesn’t know where to point the finger. “It was always going to be hard to follow Fergie’s suit,” he says.
“But what a lot of fans are really suffering now is more the way of playing football than the results.
“You can lose a game now and then and people understand, but when you are United it’s this feeling that has grown so strong in the 20-odd years with Ferguson, that you play the United way, you keep attacking and you can beat and not be afraid of anybody.”
His countryman Ibrahimovic’s departure was a big loss for United earlier this year.
“He has a great presence and aura about him. He can be arrogant sometimes towards the press but you realise how hard he works and how much he is ready to sacrifice.
“These two parts of him in the dressing room is really important because then the young players see Zlatan, how hard he works and how much he wants to win.”
Blomqvist was a winner, too. While there is no memorabilia in 450 Gradi, Blomqvist did bring in his Champions League winners medal on the day of this year’s final.
If the success continues, his silverware and pizzeria could be on its way to the U.K., too.
“We have a concept that is working,” he says, proudly. “It has been a fantastic half-year and the dream would be to open some in England.
As Blomqvist rises from his seat, he adds: “Milan could be a tough one, though.”