– I saw the match when he was injured. It is rare that he screams very loudly, because he has a fairly high pain threshold. But I think everyone who knows Martin felt it firsthand through the TV screen. The scream was so loud that you could tell, this was no small injury. So says Liv Grete Skjelbreid, who is the aunt of Molde profiler Martin Ellingsen. The 28-year-old has in recent years had an injury nightmare of the very rare kind. As Ellingsen himself put it to news: – It is of course crazy, but unfortunately I have good training in it. HERE’S WHAT WENT WRONG: Molde’s Martin Ellingsen had to go off the field with an injury against Stabæk in 2021. Little did he know what awaited. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB One must have a good psyche to cope with what life has sent in his direction in recent years. First, he lost the entire 2018 season after four operations and several different injuries. It took as long as 14 months before he was back in the game. In 2021, the accident happened again. In an away match against Stabæk in October, he tore the cruciate ligament – an injury that kept him away from the football field for a full 645 days before he was finally back again for Molde in August this season. – Gets goosebumps Life Grete Skjelbreid, who is considered one of the best biathletes in history on the women’s side with 16 Olympic and World Cup medals, says she is moved by thinking about the tough times and the road to her nephew’s return. – I actually get a little goosebumps, she admits. Skjelbreid believes that anyone involved in top sports can understand what it costs to be injured. – But 645 days, where you have to continuously do crap jobs where you don’t know you’re training, but are only forced to do to train stability day in, day out. Everyone else on the team plays, but you sit on the ergometer bike or exercise with a physiotherapist. It is steadfast, she says. PROUD: Liv Grete Skjelbreid is very proud of her nephew and is excited before the cup final on Sunday. Photo: Marit Sofie Strand / news – Describe him as a person She therefore has great respect for the way her nephew has returned. – He must of course continue to work and become even better. But I think that when he has managed to get back into the team after that comeback, after such a long time out, that actually describes Martin as a person, she says. Ellinga appreciated the support from celebrities. – It’s a very pleasant word. It certainly is. She knows what she’s talking about when it comes to training, perseverance and determination. So there is definitely something to take with you further, he says. FEKK GREETINGS: Martin Ellingsen watches a video greeting from aunt Liv Grete. Photo: Erlend Havsgård Martinsen / news news visits Ellingsen at one of the training sessions before the cup final on Saturday, where he is expected to play an important role in the Molde defense against an aggressive Glimt team. When Molde just beat Glimt in the cup final in 2022, he sat injured in the stands. Thinking interval session When asked what Liv Grete Skjelbreid, who has also been a top athlete, has meant to him, Ellingsen replies that it is especially the ability to just “drive on” that he has tried to bring into football. – I remember I ran intervals with her a few years ago, and at that time she had of course given up quite a while ago. But the pace at which she went out was completely unreasonable. Then he went on a rampage. Of course she was going to try to hit me, but it didn’t work, he says with a smile. And add: – But she just drove on anyway. So she has meant a lot and taught me a little, she certainly has. COMPETITORS: Liv Grete Skjelbreid and Martin Ellingsen both have a competitive instinct. – I am quite sure that I must have had a really good season ahead of this Easter. If not, I certainly wouldn’t have gotten the start against him here, says Liv Grete about this picture. Photo: Privat Ellingsen, who is described by his aunt as “a person who looks like an angel, but he is rarely completely innocent”, is now in a good place in life. – Was locked in. It’s good to feel after leaving much darker periods behind. The long injury layoffs did their part to test his psyche. – You become a slightly different person. It goes beyond other things in the weekday. You might become a bit withdrawn, not offer as much of yourself and talk less to people, he says. BACK IN THE LAMPLIGHT: Martin Ellingsen has made a comeback this season after a long injury layoff. Photo: Erlend Havsgård Martinsen / news The Molde player describes the injury problem as all-consuming. – I didn’t think of anything else. It was like five seconds where I could think about something else, and then it just came back again. It is almost impossible to think about anything else when you may fear a little for your career, he says. – Never considered giving up The fear of an involuntary career end was not lessened by the fact that he apparently has no “backup plan” in the form of education or anything else to fall back on. – Did you ever consider giving up? – No, I never considered giving up. I didn’t, but you never know how things will turn out. I didn’t know if I was coming back, you never do. But I never thought about giving up, he says. Molde captain Magnus Wolff Eikrem has seen up close how his team-mate has fought to return as a footballer. Eikrem describes Ellingsen as a role model. HAPPY AGAIN: Life smiles on a now injury-free Martin Ellingsen. Photo: Erlend Havsgård Martinsen / news – Everyone in the dressing room has seen that he has trained, suffered a setback, trained, suffered a setback. We have had several people here who have been injured for a long time and had to give up, and you start to think along those lines when you are out for so long. But he has shown that it is possible to come back, and he has been absolutely fantastic for us this year. We hope he plays here for many years and stays healthy, says Eikrem to news. And underlines: – He is a fantastic footballer who we are very happy with here at the club. This is how the cup final affects the European places of Norwegian teams If Glimt beats Molde in the cup final: 1st place Eliteserien (Glimt): Champions League qualification 2nd place Eliteserien (Brann): Europa League qualification 3rd place Eliteserien (Tromsø): Serie league qualification 4th place Eliteserien ( Viking): Series league qualification If Molde beats Glimt in the cup final: 1st place Eliteserien (Glimt): Champions league qualification 2nd place Eliteserien (Brann): Series league qualification 3rd place Eliteserien (Tromsø): Series league qualification 4th place Eliteserien (Viking): No place in European games 5th place Eliteserien (Molde): Europa League qualifier Johannes Kaste, developer of the website Fotcalc.com, which is devoted to making it easier to follow the coefficient of Norwegian and foreign club teams and the prize money each team reaps from play in Europe, believes it is best for Norwegian football if Molde wins the final. This is because the chances are greater that Norwegian football’s so-called coefficient increases with Molde’s participation. – The coefficient is important for Norwegian football because it determines the quota of how many European places Norwegian football will have. It also governs which rounds the clubs start their qualification in. The higher Norwegian football is ranked, the easier it is for our clubs to achieve good results. Molde will be seeded in more qualifying rounds than Tromsø/Brann/Viking because Molde has far more of its own coefficient points than them. Coefficient points are also what determine the seeding in most qualifying rounds. Therefore, Molde will face easier opposition than any of the other three clubs, says Kaste to news. Norwegian football is currently in 15th place in this ranking. The position at the end of the season (around May 2024) determines our European places for the Eliteserien/Cup 2024. All European quotas can be found by following this link. – There you can see that 15th place is considerably better than 16th place. Therefore, it is very beneficial for Norwegian football if we manage to stay within the top 15 until the end of the season, Kaste points out. After being in the darkest place in his career for a long time with injury problems, Martin Ellingsen can next Saturday have one of the biggest upswings in his career. The traditional cup final is a match Molde MUST win if they are to secure a place in the European Cup next season as well. – After everything you’ve been through, what will it be like to play the final and possibly win it? – It will be incredibly big. I have played in a cup final for Kongsvinger in the past and lost it so that was it. Last year I was there and watched. So I still haven’t played in a cup final and won. So it will be incredibly big, he says. Watch the cup final between Molde and Bodø/Glimt on Saturday at 16.00 on NRK1 or listen to the match on news Sport on the radio.
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