Thomas Kristensen Relishing Transition to Serie A With Udinese
On May 26, 2024, the Serie A season reached its conclusion. Inter had already secured the league title, Atalanta, Milan, Bologna and Juventus had already secured Champions League football…the only thing left to play for was safety. The only thing left to be determined was which team was going to be joining Salernitana and Sassuolo in the second-tier.
Udinese, Empoli and Frosinone were all vying to stay up. But whilst Empoli were able to beat Roma 2-1 thanks to Mbaye Niang’s 93rd-minute winner, Udinese edged Frosinone 1-0 courtesy of Keinan Davis’ 76th-minute goal. Udinese and Empoli staved off the drop by the thinnest of margins, whilst Frosinone were knocked down to Serie B.
It was only 10 months ago, but for Udinese, it may as well have been 10 years ago. Today, Le Zebrette are sitting pretty in 10th place after a sensational run of form. Having opened February with a 3-2 win against newly promoted Venezia, Udinese held Napoli to a 1-1 draw before beating Empoli 3-0, winning 1-0 at Lecce, and 1-0 against Parma. They’ll be looking to make it four wins and four clean sheets in a row at Lazio on Monday, and one player who could prove vital is Danish defender Thomas Kristensen.
In an exclusive RG interview, Kristensen discussed various topics including:
Leaving boyhood club AGF for Udinese in 2023:
“Between my injury and [Yann Aurel] Bisseck’s sale, it wasn’t planned for me to leave that very summer. AGF wanted me to play another season, and it wasn’t in their minds or my mind to leave already. There were a lot of clubs that were interested in signing me, but Udinese wanted me really badly, and it was an opportunity that neither myself nor the club could say no to. It was a good match, and I’ve already played a lot of games at Udinese and shown a lot of good things in Serie A.
I knew of Udinese’s interest for a while, but in the end, it started to become really intense. It went from being not concrete to them making an offer. Suddenly, there was a deal to take care of and it became really intense. It wasn’t designated for me to leave the club, but AGF gave me the chance to go to Italy and see it myself.
They needed to sign a center back to replace me before I put my signature on the paper and signed the contract with Udinese. I went there and sorted out everything, but then the guy who AGF had planned on signing as my replacement told them that he was going to another team. That night, I was sitting here waiting to sign the papers. They ended up signing Mats Knoester from Ferencváros to replace me, and the situation turned around.”
The biggest differences between Danish football and Italian football:
“The main difference between Denmark and Italy is the quality of the players. You don’t have time to sleep. You don’t have time to make naive, stupid mistakes. You cannot give the strikers and the players here too much space. It’s a country that’s well-known for their defending, so it was a really good place for me to grow. I feel that after one and a half years in Italy, I’ve improved a lot defensively. It’s a great league with a lot of quality players, and the defensive aspect is especially very strong.”
Embracing the Kosta Runjaic Mentality – A Surprise European Charge for Udinese
Living alone in Udine:
“I live in Udine alone, which was a huge difference coming from Denmark where I lived with two of my friends and knew nearly everyone in the entire city. The toughest thing to get used to was suddenly being all by yourself without family close by, and to come home to an empty house. It was difficult managing all this stuff by yourself when you don’t have that guy or girl to come home to and speak with. The only thing in your mind was preparing for tomorrow’s training session or next week’s game. However, this was also a good learning process for me because it made me focus on my career as opposed to other things.”
Avoiding relegation on the final day:
“Staying up in Serie A was an unbelievable feeling. The difference between going down to the second tier and staying up is massive. It’s so important in a place like this, a club that can’t go down to Serie B. We all had a few beers afterward and celebrated together and then went on holiday. It wasn’t the best season, but it ended up being a really nice end to the campaign. I’m very proud of how we handled being under so much pressure. It was a really nice moment and a massive relief.”
Learning from Kosta Runjaić:
“My relationship with Runjaić is good, I try to do what he asks of me. His style fits how I want to play, which is as an aggressive, wide center back who wants to apply the pressure and who’s not afraid to carry out a high line. I ran into some injuries which sidelined me from the squad for a little bit, but I’ve managed to keep fighting for a place, and I’m now having the game-time that I wanted to have after previously struggling for fitness.”
Long-term goals:
“Ever since I was a little kid, my dream has always been to play in England. Then, when I got a little older, my dream was to come to Italy to become a defender. If you want to improve as a defender, Italy is the best place to do it. They teach defending in the best way. Right now, I’m here in Udine, and I have a lot to improve on, and Udinese is a great place to improve as a player. There’s no rush, but I still have a dream of playing in England one day.”
By: Zach Lowy / @ZachLowy
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Image Photo Agency / Getty Images