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Article continues below<script type="application/json" data-placement="better-collective-widget">{"type":"better-collective-widget","data":{}}</script>Article continues belowArticle continues below<ul><li>Bendtner talks about playing career</li><li>Reveals addiction to painkillers</li><li>Body was 'never the same' afterwards</li></ul><script type="application/json" data-placement="fcplayer-semantic">{"type":"fcplayer-semantic","data":{"embedCode":"//cdn.fcp.codes/embed-code-template/embed-code-template.js#SEMANTIC_5704afb8-c10b-4ba5-9cb4-d7fb6098ef90"}}</script>

Nicklas Bendtner admits to 'popping pills' following car crash as ex-Arsenal forward reveals body was 'never really the same' afterwards

Bendtner hung up his boots in 2019 at the age of just 31 in a rather underwhelming end to his career. After a promising start, the Danish forward's career faltered after a car crash and Bendtner has revealed that his constant use of the painkillers made it difficult for him to continue at the same physical level.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Speaking to the<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13484613/NICKLAS-BENDTNER-Denmark-David-Beckham.html" target="_blank"> Daily Mail</a>, the Dane said: "It was an Aston Martin DBS, grey, James Bond. F*cking great car. So stylish. Still my favourite car. That was my best period at Arsenal, playing on the right side with Andrey Arshavin on the left, and Robin van Persie up front. I was playing every week and after the crash I was never really the same. All of a sudden I couldn't go five games at 100 per cent."When you play with pain and start popping pills then it's a very slippery slope. I needed them to play because of the pain. I took them continuously for about two years. The problem was that I couldn't train without them. I read up on the side effects and everything that happened to me was all the side effects of taking them for too long."It affected my mood, it affected how I was as a person. In the end I had to come off it. I should never really have started. They're accessible everywhere. You can ask the doctor for some, he will say "no" and then you get them anyway. If a player knows he can take three or four of those pills and play in a Champions League semi-final then that's what he's gonna do. I would have taken 10."Football was my first, second and third thing. The only time I was free and felt special was on the grass. You felt part of something bigger. That was my happiest moment in my life, nothing else compares to it. The periods when you are not in the team then you are more prone to make a bad decision…"

WHAT BENDTNER SAID

The Danish forward rose through the youth ranks at Arsenal and made his debut for Arsene Wenger's side in 2005, but it wasn't until 2007 that he broke into the Gunners' first team and became a fan favourite. However, after a fall-off in form, a number of loans followed and ended with a move to Wolfsburg. He failed to resurrect his career and retired in 2019 after a failed stint with Copenhagen.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

While Bendtner knows he could have had a much more illustrious career, he maintains that he does not look back with regret and is happy to have his life as it is right now.He said: "I don't really believe in regrets but I believe in being smarter at the time. Some things you can look back and say, 'That was stupid.' I had an overdue parking fine that ended up at 33 thousand pounds. I got the ticket in the post, never opened the post and it was just lying there. I got a call saying, 'Do you realise the bailiffs are going to come to your house and take your stuff if you don't pay this?' I had to pay it.'"

WHAT NEXT FOR BENDTNER?

Nicklas Bendtner admits to 'popping pills' following car crash as ex-Arsenal forward reveals body was 'never really the same' afterwards | Goal.com UK

Former Arsenal star man Nicklas Bendtner has admitted he resorted to painkillers to play without pain after his car crash in 2009.

Nicklas Bendtner admits to &apos;popping pills&apos; following car crash as ex-Arsenal forward reveals body was &apos;never really the same&apos; afterwards