Emotional farewell for Van der Sar

Updated on: 22 May,2011 07:41 AM IST |
PA Sport |

Edwin van der Sar will say goodbye to the Premier League on Sunday admitting he faces a difficult 90 minutes against Blackpool

Edwin van der Sar will say goodbye to the Premier League on Sunday admitting he faces a difficult 90 minutes against Blackpool. After rejecting numerous pleas from his teammates to abandon his retirement plans, Van der Sar is due to be handed the captain's armband by Sir Alex Ferguson for his final league game in Manchester United colours.

Van der Sar

Not normally prone to moments of emotion, the 40-year-old did not even start thinking about the prospect of retirement until a couple of weeks ago. However, the enormity of life away from the stresses and strains of training and matches has now started to sink in, making today's occasion all the more difficult. "I'm not looking forward to it," Van der Sar told MUTV. "It's a sad moment. You don't look forward to those. I just have to make the best of it.

"I wouldn't say it has come round quickly. I had not really been thinking about it. Once I knew what I was going to do, I remained focussed on the games and the training. "It's only in the last two weeks that it has really sunk in that I am running out of time. "The memories I will get this weekend I will be able to keep with me for the rest of my life."