'I put on a mask' - Kristensen opens up about extreme depression at Leeds and Roma

Today, he is at peace with himself and has rediscovered happiness on and off the pitch in Frankfurt, where he has become a regular at right back and was voted Best Player of the Season last year in Eintracht Frankfurt.

But before that, he went through a mentally stressful period after he left FC Midtjylland as a 20-year-old, which threatened to end his career. At 27, he wanted to return to Denmark and live "a normal life" outside the parameters of professional football, where the constant pressures of delivering the goods took away his joy of the game.

"I had lost the desire to play football and lost the desire to be part of that circus. Because I had lost the desire for that whole world – the whole mentality, the whole business. I had lost the joy of training and of playing", says Nissen Kristensen to TV2 Sport.

Kristensen lived in a shadowy existence, characterized by inner turmoil, nervousness, and a fundamental uncertainty in relation to the matches and the constant pressure that comes with life as a professional footballer.

"It became a kind of masquerade – a mask I put on every day – and in the long run it became too hard for me. That mask has actually been a part of me throughout my time abroad", says Nissen Kristensen, who hit bottom three years ago.

Head over to the full article on Flashscore.