Arsenal captain Per Mertesacker feels so much pressure playing for Gunners he wants to VOMIT
Big German admits heading into crunch clashes makes his stomach turn and he has to 'choke violently until my eyes tear'
PER MERTESACKER feels so much pressure playing for Arsenal that he wants to VOMIT.
Arsene Wenger entrusts the big German to captain the Gunners.
But Mertesacker, 33, admitted: "Some days you realise that everything is a burden, both physically and mentally.
"That it's not about fun, but you have to deliver without a doubt. Even if you are injured.
"In the moments before a game starts my stomach turns around as if I had to vomit. Then I have to choke so violently until my eyes tear."
Mertesacker has won three FA Cups with Arsenal since joining from Werder Bremen in 2011.
Speaking to German magazine Der Spiegel, he added: "Even if I had to vomit before every game and go to rehab 20 times, I would do it all over again. It was worth it for all of the memories."
A long-standing knee injury has forced Mertesacker into retirement at the end of the season.
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He will begin his new role as Arsenal's academy manager next term.
Mertesacker explained: "'My body is finished.
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"Everyone says I should enjoy the last year, to play as much as possible and take everything in, [but] I would rather sit on the bench or - even better - in the stands, and then, for the first time in my life, aged more than 30, I will feel free."
Mertesacker won the World Cup with Germany in 2014.
But as a 21-year-old, the defender was on the wrong end of a 2-0 semi-final defeat to eventual champions Italy.
Amazingly, Mertesacker was relieved to be heading home instead of having to face France.
He said: "Of course I also was disappointed when we were beaten by Italy. But above all I was relieved.
"I still remember it as if it were today, I just thought: It's over, it's over. Finally it's over."