Former Liverpool star Jari Litmanen has revealed how coronavirus left him feeling so ill he didn't miss football at all.
The Finland frontman, who scored nine goals in 43 appearances after joining the Reds towards the end of his career on a free transfer from Barcelona in 2001, and retired from the game in October 2011 at the age of 40.
The boyhood Liverpool fan, who also starred for Ajax who he helped to Champions League glory in 1995 and Barcelona, said he needed an entire month to recover after testing positive for COVID-19.
Even then, he required a further two weeks to recuperate and he said he had never felt in such bad shape after contracting the virus.
Litmanen, who is Finland's record appearance holder after an 137-cap international career which spanned four decades between 1989 and 2010, told Unibet: "There was a fever, headache, muscle aches, shortness of breath and everything possible.
"It took four weeks to recover from coronavirus and since then there has now been a couple of weeks of recovery.
"Fortunately, the pains or shortness of breath was never so severe that I would have had to go to the hospital, and I was able to get through the disease at home.
"Getting sick was very tiring, and sometimes it was really heavy. Physically, I've probably never been in such bad shape.
"On the other hand, when I was sick for four weeks, when it was a little tighter, I didn't really miss football or any other sport. The thoughts were a bit elsewhere."