The Madness is on the Pitch

Jens Lehmann is one of football's most recognisable goalkeepers.



In a playing career stretching across four decades he represented three of Europe's most illustrious clubs.



Winning Bundesliga and Premier League titles only tell apart of his story, however. Here, Lehmann follows a path of self-analysis, detailing his obsession with the game, an obsession which propelled him to a sporting level he felt comfortable with, albeit a level which brought intense scrutiny and–regularly – fierce criticism.



Lehmann was never far away from the headlines. He was Arsenal's goalkeeper when Arsène Wenger's great team went the entire season unbeaten in the league. A feud with Bayern Munich's Oliver Kahn was an intriguing subplot behind the pair's battle to become Germany's number 1 at the 2006 World Cup. Earlier that summer, Lehmann had been sent off in a Champions League final.



This is a person unafraid of making bold decisions. Having won the UEFA Cup with Schalke, he decided to join Ruhr rivals Borussia Dortmund after walking out on AC Milan just six months after moving to Italy.



Now, six years after his retirement as a player he has decided to pursue a career in management, with his coaching odyssey starting in the summer of 2017 back at Arsenal.



Jens Lehmann was born in Essen, West Germany in November 1969. He began his professional football career with Schalke 04 in the late 1980s, playing also for AC Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal and VfB Stuttgart as well as the German national team at two major international tournaments.