Jari Litmanen

Jari Litmanen

Jari Litmanen playing for Finland in 2009 (left)

Jari’s Ajax shirt in the Sports Museum of Finland (right)

Personal life

Jari Olavi Litmanen is a finnish footballer. He was born 20 February 1971 in Lahti, into a footballing family. His dad, also played football and represented Reipas. His mother was football player too, she also played in Reipas at the women`s highest level. In November 2005 Litmanen became a father, when his Estonian girlfriend Ly Jürgenson gave birth to a son called Caro. The second son, Bruno, was born in September 2007.

Career

His career started 1977 and he retired 2011. During his club career, he represented Reipas, HJK, LyPa and Lahti in Finland and Ajax, Barcelona, Liverpool, Hansa Rostock and Malmö abroad. Litmanen is considered one of the best attacking midfielders in the world. His later career was marred by injuries, and he was unable to repeat the success of his Ajax years either at Barcelona or Liverpool, often finding himself on the bench, despite some impressive performances for the latter. Paul Simpson, former FourFourTwo editor, said that “his career has not been worthy of his talent”.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jari_Litmanen#cite_note-5
- http://www.transfermarkt.ee/en/jari-litmanen/profil/spieler_4675.html
- http://myliverpoolfc.org/fixtures01-02.htm

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