MILAN – Every artist has a place they call home, and for Tomas Rosicky that place is Sparta Prague. The diminutive midfielder’s path away from and then back to his homeland has been fraught with challenges. One cannot avoid mentioning the numerous injuries, some of which have altered the Czech wizard’s path towards to the highest echelons of the beautiful game.
When all is said and done, the career of ‘the Little Mozart’ — a nickname given for the way he elegantly manages proceedings in the middle of the pitch — can still be looked back on favourably. With stints at Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal coming in between, returning to wear the Rudi’s maroon shirt once again sixteen years later is the perfect ending.
Jiri, the oldest of the Rosicky brothers, said on Tomas’ 30th birthday that "life unfolds like the flow of water". The two began on similar paths, raised by their mother Eva, an accomplished table tennis player. Their careers started at CKD Kompresory Praga (now known as FK Bohemians) before moving to Sparta.
At this point the two brothers headed in different directions. Jiri joined Atletico Madrid’s B team, and was on the cusp of playing in La Liga, but unlike contemporaries that included Ruben Baraja and Veljko Paunovic, he didn’t manage to make the step up. Tomas, meanwhile, was on his path to the big leagues. Football agent Pavel Paska was one of the first to notice his qualities and observed a pure and precocious talent. He also remarked on Tomas’ slight physique: "When he turned up for the first time, his shorts were so baggy and I was thinking to myself, where are his legs?"
While questions over his slender build remained, there were no doubts about his cultured feet. Rosicky departed, along with his family, and left the prosperous district of Strizkov to head to Germany. In one of his first games, a fan rather jokingly invited him to increase his meat intake and bulk up. Some call him ‘Schnitzel’, even today. Though things did not really change during his stint at Dortmund, the fans’ love for the player never dwindled, even when he said yes to joining Arsene Wenger at Arsenal, in summer 2007.
The Dortmund side, which under Matthias Sammer had won the German league title just over five years before, was cracking at the seams. Rosicky had also, in the meantime, suffered heartache with his national side. We have the iconic image of the player, on his knees at the Estadio do Dragão in Portugal, after the defeat to Greece at Euro 2004.
Rosicky joined the Gunners to play in the Premier League, where injury problems persistently prevented him from making the jump from a good player to an all-time great. That said, his time in London will be remembered for some truly magical moments. On the way to Arsenal’s FA Cup win in 2014, he scored a memorable goal against local rivals Tottenham Hotspur, with a little drink that left goalkeeper Hugo Lloris on the floor. Despite the pressures of the modern game, he manages to play each game with an expression which belies his age, an immaculate calm and a clear human quality.
As he brought his ten years with Arsenal to a close he was invited to stay on and was roundly applauded for his achievements. Many fans sent messages to show their affection including, famously, a Syrian boy at a refugee camp, who said he hoped he would see Rosicky play once again.
And so he has returned to Prague, a moment his first club has waited for patiently. Now the Little Mozart has a chance in the Europa League to produce a final symphony.
