SAYS STAN PETROV
SOME things are more important than football and, mercifully, Stan Petrov is still here to remind us.
Whatever happens to Aston Villa at Wembley tomorrow – miracle or massacre, revelation or ruin – Petrov has already banked their greatest result this century.
Leukaemia was once a death sentence but Petrov fought it and beat it, with the same tenacity he once brought to Villa’s midfield.
If they are to win the 60th League Cup Final against Manchester City, just as they won the first against Rotherham in 1961, they could do worse than invite the former Celtic ace to deliver the pre-match pep talk.
He said: “Everybody says enjoy the day but enjoying it is not enough.
“I have been there and it is not pleasant when you lose. I would tell the boys, ‘We go out there and we give our best. If we give our best and we end up losing, at least we did everything that we could.’ Then I would lead them out.”
For Petrov’s successor with the captain’s armband, Jack Grealish, the Wembley stage will be a showcase for the country’s brightest uncapped player.
If England coach Gareth Southgate has been overeager to promote young talent at times, ignoring Grealish remains his most glaring blind spot.
Petrov, now 40 and radiating good health, cannot understand it.
He said: “Jack has to compete with a number of good players but he’s talked about it, he’s worked hard, produced the performances and now he is saying to Southgate: ‘If you don’t pick me, questions will remain out there. If you do, there are no more because I deserve to be in that set-up.’
“He’s an incredible talent. Villa are battling to survive but they are in a final and he has produced magic.
“Every time he gets the ball we all get excited, he just glides around players.
“Jack, it’s just natural. He loves the pressure. He loves to take the ball, to be kicked. He likes to create, be in the spotlight. That’s what makes him special and why I’d like to see him produce it at a higher level.”
If ex-Villa boss Roberto Di Matteo, had been a shade kinder, Petrov would have celebrated remission from blood cancer with an encore as a player in 2016 – four years after he was diagnosed with leukaemia.
But after regaining fitness and playing in a pre-season friendly his bubble was soon burst.
He said: “We won the game, everything seemed to be normal, but then I got called in and he told me he had different plans. I was a bit disappointed as I’d pushed hard to finish my career on the pitch.
“I wanted to show other cancer survivors there is life after these battles. But he had a different view and, for me, there is a bigger picture out there.”