David Beckham shared a heart-breaking video of his final time with former boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Eriksson, who coached Beckham at England between 2001 and 2006, passed away on Monday following a battle with pancreatic cancer.
A number of tributes have come pouring in for the Swede, including many of his former England players, Three Lions legend Gary Lineker and Prince William.
His captain at England, Beckham, also paid his heartfelt tribute by posting a video of the two together at Eriksson’s house in Sweden.
The caption of the post read: “We laughed, we cried & we knew we were saying goodbye…
“Sven thank you for always being the person you have always been, passionate, caring, calm & a true gentleman…
“I will be forever grateful for you making me your captain but I will forever hold these last memories of this day with you and your family…
“Thank you Sven and in your last words to me, ‘It will be ok’.”
At Eriksson’s farm in Sweden, they enjoyed a traditional meal and six special bottles of wine together.
As quoted by The Sun, Eriksson said of the visit: “He came with six litres of wine from dates that were important to me.
“He had wine from 1948 – the year I was born, very nice of him. He is genuine, he could have been a big diva, but he is quite the opposite.
“He ate herring and potatoes and elk meat.
“The previous day he had sent a chef who fixed the food, and then he came and was here for a day. We sat chatting, a lot about football.”
The former manager had been ill for a while and in January announced the shock news that he ‘had at best a year to live’.
He had recently resigned from his post as sporting director of Karlstad in his native Sweden and had sought medical advice after collapsing during a 5km run, with doctors also discovering he suffered a stroke.
A statement from his agent read: “Sven-Göran Eriksson has passed away. After a long illness, he died during the morning at home surrounded by family.
“The closest mourners are daughter Lina; son Johan with wife Amana and granddaughter Sky; father Sven; girlfriend Yanisette with son Alcides; brother Lars-Erik with wife Jumnong.”
Born on February 5 1948, Eriksson grew up in Sweden where he became a professional footballer.
He played as a right-back in his home country, but became one of the most recognisable names in the game when he turned to management.
Making his first move into management with Swedish outfit Degerfors IF, Eriksson got the job with Swedish giants Goteborg, announcing himself on the European stage by winning the UEFA Cup in the 1971/72 season.
He was then snapped up by Benfica in 1982 where he won three Primeira Divisao titles and a Portuguese Cup alongside finishing as runners up in both the European Cup and UEFA Cup across two spells.
Spells with Roma, Fiorentina and a return to Benfica followed, before a successful five years with Sampdoria saw him secure a move to Lazio in 1997.
His time at the Stadio Olympico was arguably the most successful of his career with Eriksson winning the Serie A title in 2000, along with two Coppa Italia and two Supercoppa Italianas.
He also won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and the UEFA Super Cup, along with finishing as runners up in the UEFA Cup.
At Lazio, Eriksson led a number of iconic stars including Pavel Nedved, Marcelo Salas, Alen Boksic and Diego Simeone.
He was also responsible for signing Christian Vieri from Atletico Madrid in the summer of 1998 for £21million, before selling him to Inter Milan a year later for a world-record fee of £32million.
In January 2001, Eriksson took charge of the England national team and led the team to two World Cups and one European Championship, leading ‘the Golden Generation’ featuring David Beckham, John Terry Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Wayne Rooney and others.
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Most famously, Eriksson masterminded the famous 5-1 hammering of Germany at Berlin’s Olympiastadion with Steven Gerrard, Emile Heskey and a Michael Owen hat-trick earning a memorable win.
After England, he managed Manchester City, Mexico and Leicester, with his last role coming as manager of a Liverpool Legends XI in a charity game in March.
It was a poignant moment in one of his last public appearances as Eriksson finally finally got to manage the team he had supported since he was a child.
He was visibly moved at hearing a rendition of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ – a song dedicated to Eriksson and in an interview with LFC TV after the game, he remarked: “A memory for life. Everybody was the winner today.
“It was beautiful, absolutely incredible. Everything from You’ll Never Walk Alone to the rest of the match.
“I think we were the better team even in the first half. You always worry that you lose, but it was a very good first half, an extremely good second half. But the big winners were all of us.”
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