Ledley King has recalled when he incredibly returned from a seven-month absence by beating Liverpool with Tottenham.
The former centre-back spent his entire 13-year career at Spurs and is one of the club’s greatest ever defenders.
Injury blighted his entire career and King missed a large chunk of the 2010/11 campaign due to a groin problem, spending over half a year on the touchline.
However, he returned in their penultimate Premier League match of the season, which proved to be a 2-0 win away at Liverpool.
Speaking to talkSPORT Drive about if he understood his importance to the Spurs team, he said: “For sure, whenever I played, we were a better team and I sensed that from the managers.
“I was under pressure to play whenever I could, a lot of times I played at 50/60 per cent. I played a game, I was out for seven months and I trained once or twice and ended up playing a game at Anfield.
“We won 2-0. I was out for seven months and I had one or two training sessions. I didn’t even go to play, I went to watch and I ended up playing in the game.”
He added: “Harry [Redknapp] asked me an hour and 45 [minutes] before kick-off, could I play? I looked at him like he was mad, in the end I ended up playing and got through the game somehow.”
King played the entirety of the match at Liverpool’s iconic home, with Rafael van der Vaart and Luka Modric Spurs’ scoring heroes.
It was a victory that proved crucial for Spurs as they overtook the Reds to take fifth spot heading into the final day, on which they secured qualification for the Europa League.
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The following campaign proved to the be the last at Spurs for King, who suffered from chronic problems with his left knee, making it arguably as iconic as David Beckham’s right boot.
After making 322 appearances in all competitions for the north London side, he announced his retirement from football in July 2012.
King is regarded as a club legend, so much so that he had his own testimonial match at White Hart Lane two years after leaving.
The 43-year-old joined Jose Mourinho’s coaching staff in 2020 as an assistant and when the Portuguese boss left the club, King returned to his role as a club ambassador.