Daniel Agger: I took too many anti-inflammatories in my career

Agger retired from football at the age of 31 back in May, and has opened up about several aspects of his career to Danish newspaper 'Jyllands-Posten'. Most notably, he talked about how he took too many anti-inflammatory pills, which made him drowsy and unable to focus while playing professional football. 

The 31-year-old said that he has struggled with a back problem since 2007, and for the last four years of his career, he claims he was not performing to his full capacity due to the problem. 

The former Liverpool man compensated for this by taking anti-imflammatory tablets, but in the end, they appeared to do more harm than good. 

“I have taken too much anti-inflammatories in my career,” he said

“I know that full well, and it sucks, but I did stop it [in the end]. I am not gaining anything personally from saying this but I can only hope that other athletes do. It could be that others take a pill or two less". 

The former Denmark international picked up in injury in the penultimate year of his career at Brondby, but wanted to play in a match against Copnhagen so he took the maximum recommended dose of an anti-inflammatory drug for a week - doctors only recommend three days of use. 

Agger fell asleep on a 15-minute journey to the stadium in Copenhagen and had to be woken up by one of his team-mates. 

Despite feeling lathargic, Agger played the match even though it was the last thing he wanted to do. 

“I only had one thought and that was to remain in the dressing room after the warm-up but then I put the shirt on and decided to play,” he said.

The Dane then left the pitch after 29 minutes after misjudging a header and later had to be helped to the physio's room, something that he does not remember. 

Agger made 384 career appearances including a seven-year spell at Liverpool and has 75 caps for his country. 

He now hopes that his story allows people to recognise the dangers of taking too much medication and lower their usage when possible.