Southampton youth product Tim Sparv has admitted that beating them with FC Midtjylland in 2015 will remain one of the best moment of his playing career.
The 38-year-old has been speaking to Tipsbladet about his playing career, which came to an end in 2022, as he celebrates his birthday.
He’s now a coach after a playing career that saw him start in Norway with Norrvalla before joining Southampton’s youth set up in 2003.
He spent four years with the Saints before moving to Sweden with Halmstads and going on to play for the likes of FC Groningen, Greuther Fürth, FC Midtjylland, AE Laris and HJK Helsinki.
It was his time with Midtjylland that undoubtedly his most successful as he was Danish champion three times and a Danish cup winner in 2019.
Their success saw them competing in Europe and the Europa League, where they eventually met Southampton in the play-off round.
They got the better of Ronald Koeman’s side over two legs, drawing 1-1 in the first leg before then beating them 1-0 at home to progress. That was a special moment for Sparv, given he had played for the Saints as a youngster.
“I had a past as an academy player, so coming back and playing at St. Mary’s is not something I will ever forget,” he said.
“And that I also scored against them, that was fun, after which I didn’t join in singing and partying in the locker room with the others because I had to go to the doping control,
“It was just insanely strong. It was a Premier League team with Ronald Koeman as coach and Sadio Mané, Dusan Tadic and whatever the good players were called. Not many people had believed in us. But that’s where our momentum showed and took even more momentum.
“We just had a lot of faith in it. I know it sounds vague and imprecise, but football is so much a psychological game, and when you finally succeed in a club like ours after being close so many times, it all comes together.”
