Ex-England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson opens up on his terminal cancer battle

Sven-Göran Eriksson insists ‘life is beautiful’ and that he is doing everything he can to ‘have a normal life’ two months on from revealing his terminal pancreatic cancer diagnosis.

The former England boss, who will fulfil a dream by managing Liverpool Legends against Ajax Legends at Anfield on Saturday, stunned the world of football back in January when he announced that he had ‘about a year’ to live.

He is now back in Sweden undergoing treatment and admitted that his shock cancer diagnosis has brought his life into sharp focus.

‘You appreciate waking up in the morning and feeling well and normally you don't do that. You take it for granted,’ he said.

‘In the beginning when you get the diagnosis coming from nowhere, it’s like a shock but after a while you learn to live with it.'

Speaking to Channel 4, he added: ‘Today I have a normal life and I am not thinking about what's going to happen tomorrow or the day after. Otherwise you sit down and think pity of yourself. No. Leave it.

‘I don’t talk about it very much. It is what it is. I can’t beat it, probably. Anyhow, life is beautiful.’

There was immediate concern for Eriksson at the start of the year when he suddenly collapsed while going for a 5km run.

After seeing his doctors, it turned out that Eriksson had suffered a stroke and also had cancer.

He said later that doctors weren’t sure how long he had cancer: ‘maybe a month or a year'.

Eriksson, 76, spent five years in charge of the England national team between 2001 and 2006, guiding the Three Lions to three successive quarter-finals at major tournaments.

His side lost to eventual winners Brazil at the 2002 World Cup, while they were knocked out on penalties by Portugal in 2004 and 2006.

During his time at the helm, he got the