Pasanen: "I nearly replaced Wiese in goal"

Petri Pasnanen answers questions in his farewell interview Part 2.
First Team
Wednesday, 04.05.2011 / 13:33

He is one of the longest-serving Werder players, but there is no Bremen player who is less well-known than Petri Pasanen, who will leave the club at season's end. Pasanen will pull over the Green-White jersey for the final time at Weser Stadium on Saturday. WERDER.DE sat down for a long, very personal farewell interview...

He is one of the longest-serving Werder players, but there is no Bremen player who is less well-known than Petri Pasanen, who will leave the club at season's end. Pasanen will pull over the Green-White jersey for the final time at Weser Stadium on Saturday. WERDER.DE sat down for a long, very personal farewell interview.
PART 2

After your transfer to Werder, you raved for a long time about Amsterdam as a city. Has Bremen surpassed it after seven years?
There's no contest for what's the nicest city outside of Finland. I will always carry a piece of Amsterdam and a piece of Bremen with me. Those are the important locations in my life. I have met a lot of important people here. And a lot has happened in that time.

During your time in Bremen, your mother died in autumn 2004. Back then you grabbed the attention as you helped Werder through their injury nightmares by flying back here extra for the North Derby.
My mother died suddenly and I immediately flew to Finland for a week. It was less a help for Werder than a distraction for me. I called the coach back then and he offered that I could fly back for the game against Hamburg. I was subbed in a couple minutes and then told the press about it. But I left for Finland directly thereafter.

Was it difficult to play professional football in far away Bremen?
Life had to go on, but it certainly has a major impact when you lose your mother. Playing in Bremen was okay. What was difficult was returning to Finland for Christmas. Then it was really clear that she was gone.

Looking pack over seven years, there were certainly strange matches. Which ones do you recall?
Right at the top for me was the 8-1 victory against Arminia Bielefeld. We had already made three substitutions and goalkeeper Tim Wiese was a bit injured at the end. The coach pointed to me that I should go into goal if Wiese couldn't continue. I kept going to Wiese and told him that he should go out. That would have been huge for me, playing keeper one time. Then I would have played everywhere. And the Bundesliga hasn't seen a lot of Finnish goalkeepers. Besides, nothing could have happened, we were already leading 7-1. I could have done it. But Wiese didn't want to leave. I really regret that. It would have been a great story.

How was the relationship to the fans in the last seven years?
Werder have good fans, but you could see a change during my time. Today the spectators expect a lot more than in 2004. They are impatient much quicker. Maybe that's normal after six years of the Champions League. But you have to give the fans a compliment for the past couple months. They realised that they have an impact on the team, that it would be twice as tough without their support. They were very positive.

Can you give us a tip on which Finnish player Werder should bring in next? Who is the next star in Finnish football?
There is a young midfielder, Eremenko. He plays with Dynamo Kiev. He is very interesting. He will make his way. He is good with the ball, also up front, a defensive midfielder.

Where will you be heading next? Stay in the Bundesliga, then we will see you at least twice a year.
The Bundesliga is always interesting. But it's too early to talk about that. I will let you know when I know.

Torsten Frings and Tim Borowski returned to Werder during your time. Will we see you again in the jersey?
I don't think so. I'm leaving.

 

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