Anders Rozenkrantz Lindegaard

Anders Rozenkrantz Lindegaard (born 13 April 1984) is a Danish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Manchester United, having joined the club in November 2010. He initially came through the ranks of hometown club Odense Boldklub, but left due to a lack of first team opportunities. He got his senior breakthrough winning the 2009 Norwegian Football Cup with Aalesund. He was named 2010 Goalkeeper of the Year in both Denmark and Norway.

He represented Denmark at U19 and U20 level, before making his senior debut on 7 September 2010 against Iceland. Lindegaard's goalkeeping hero is David Preece.

Odense

Born in the Dyrup suburb of Odense, Lindegaard started his career at local Danish Superliga team Odense Boldklub (OB). He made his Danish Superliga debut in a 3–1 victory against Silkeborg IF on 19 November 2006. He made his UEFA competition debut on 30 July 2009, in a 4–3 win over Rabotnički. During most of his time in Odense, he was kept out of the team by Arek Onyszko, and he had two loan spells at Kolding FC, where he remained undefeated in the ten league games he got for the team, after it had lost the first four games of the season, and Aalesunds FK, who he would later join permanently. When Onyszko was sacked by Odense in June 2009 due to him being convicted for assaulting his ex-wife, Lindegaard was seen as his replacement. However, the arrival of Roy Carroll at Odense two months later forced him to move on.

Aalesund

In 2009 he joined Norwegian club Aalesunds FK on loan and later permanently. In 2009 he won the Norwegian Football Cup with Aalesunds. In 2010, Lindegaard was awarded Goalkeeper of the Year in both Norway and Denmark.

Manchester United

Since early November 2010, he was reported to have become a target for English club Manchester United. However, former United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel opined that Lindegaard was not yet ready for regular Premier League action. On 23 November 2010, it was reported that Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson expected to complete the signing of the player in the "next two or three weeks." On 27 November 2010, Lindegaard joined Manchester United on a three-and-a-half year contract for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £3.5m. He trained with the first team throughout December, but he was unable to play for his new club until the transfer window re-opened on 1 January 2011. Lindegaard was officially registered with the Premier League on 6 January, and assigned the number 34 jersey.

On 29 January, Lindegaard made his Manchester United debut in a 2–1 victory against Southampton in the FA Cup Fourth Round. He made his Old Trafford debut on 19 February in another FA Cup match, this time against the Conference National side Crawley Town, in which United won 1–0. In March he underwent a knee surgery which would keep him out of action for five weeks.

On 16 May, Lindegaard played in the Manchester Senior Cup final for the Manchester United reserves against the Bolton reserves, which United went on to win 3–1.

On 14 September, Lindegaard made his first UEFA Champions League start for United against Portugese side Benfica. The match ended in a 1-1 draw with Lindegaard winning many critical acclaim for his performance. Manager Alex Ferguson however, still decided to keep with first choice keeper David De Gea for the next match in the Premier League against Chelsea. Asked about challenging for the first-team spot, Lindegaard said: "What answer do you expect to that question? I've said a thousand times before I'm not here to pick my nose".
On 1 October 2011, Lindegaard made his Premier League debut for United against Norwich in a 2–0 win at Old Trafford. On 18 October, Lindegaard made his second Champions League start for United against Otelul Galati. The match ended in a 2-0 win for United, as United earned their first Champions League Group stage victory. Lindegaard kept another clean sheet in his next appearance in the Premier League, in a 1-0 home win against Sunderland. Lindegaard continued his run of shutouts in a 1-0 away win against Aston Villa on 3 December. Lindegaard extended his fine run of clean sheets in the Premier League in a 5-0 away win at Fulham on 21 December 2011. Lindegaard has yet to concede a single goal in the Premier League.

 

International Career

Lindegaard has represented Denmark at under-19, under-20, and senior level. He made his debut for the Denmark under-19 national football team in September 2002, and played a 2003 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship qualification 1–0 win over Switzerland on 13 October 2002. He played a total six youth international games until September 2003.
He made his senior international debut in a Euro 2012 qualifier against Iceland on 7 September 2010. Denmark won 1–0. On 8 October 2010, Denmark faced Portugal in another Euro 2012 qualifier. Early on in the game, with Denmark trailing 0–2, an injury sustained by starting goalkeeper Thomas Sørensen brought Lindegaard into action. He made many saves to keep his team in the game, but conceded a goal in the 85th minute to Cristiano Ronaldo for the 1–3 result. Lindegaard started the following Euro 2012 qualifier against Cyprus, in which Lindegaard kept a clean sheet as Denmark won 2–0.