Lukas Jensen highly-motivated as Millwall keeper prepares to face his former club Burnley

BY RICHARD CAWLEY
richard@slpmedia.co.uk

Millwall goalkeeper Lukas Jensen has admitted he has plenty of extra motivation to impress against Burnley on Sunday.

The 25-year-old Danish stopper signed for the Clarets from Helsingor in August 2019 but was unable to break into the first-team fold at Turf Moor.

Jensen had loans at Bolton, Carlisle and Accrington before leaving permanently for Lincoln in June 2023.

He kept 21 clean sheets in the last campaign – form which saw Millwall pay an undisclosed fee in early July.

“I said to the team that it (the Burnley game) is already the most important of the season,” Jensen told the South London Press. “There are two games I’m looking forward to – Burnley home and Burnley away. Nothing else.

“I was there four years. To come back and win against them would mean everything to me. Don’t get me wrong, I have a good relationship with Burnley. It was the club that got me to England. I had good and bad times. I was on the bench in the Premier League and made three appearances for them.

“There were so many good things but when you are not there any more I still want to beat them – just to show ‘yeah, you’re missing out on me now because you didn’t want to extend me’. Hopefully I can do my job on Sunday.”

Jensen also had interest from Blackburn before Burnley joined the chase. He held talks with then boss Sean Dyche and first-team goalkeeping coach Billy Mercer.

“I was 19 at the time and because I was that age if they couldn’t see me having a future close to the first team there would not be any point bringing me in,” said Jensen. “Because they already had some good goalkeepers.

“They needed that new project who could progress to the first-team. They saw me as that.

“When I left it was kind of a joint decision. I didn’t want to stay as third choice. If you are a goalkeeper then you need to be number one to play games.

“I wanted to create my own career and so I dropped down two leagues to Lincoln. Since then I think I’ve done a decent job. Hopefully that can get even better in a couple of years, when I’m in the Premier League with Millwall.”

Jensen has five shutouts for the Lions in 12 Championship outings.

He was part of Neil Harris’ side that shipped seven goals in the opening two matches – a 3-2 Den loss to Watford on the opening day and edged out 4-3 at Bristol City.

Then Millwall seriously tightened up. Jensen has kept three clean sheets in his last four appearances.

Asked to assess his start for the South Londoners, he said: “There is lots more to come.

“I really see my start here at Millwall like how I started last season at Lincoln. I didn’t start particularly well but then I grew in confidence and grew with the team.

“I’ve shown bits in games about who I am as a goalkeeper and what I can do. But if you ask me it’s only going to go one way – and that’s upwards.

“You need to have that consistency as a goalkeeper and have performances all the time that are at least six or seven out of 10.”

Back-to-back league wins have lifted Millwall to 10th in the table. Blackburn, who occupy the final play-off spot, are three points ahead.

The Lions’ recent resurgence is set to be tested with Burnley, Leeds United and leaders Sunderland all coming to The Den before the end of this month.

“Every game in the Championship is a big one,” said Jensen. “You can mention all those clubs but we’ve also got Stoke, who have been in the Premier League. So you have got to be bang on it every week because otherwise it shows the rest of the Championship that you’re lacking something – I don’t want to do that.

“If you are hard to beat then everything can happen. If we can maintain that then I think we will be up there. I’m saying that with confidence, because we are growing game by game. Everyone should see that, and I think that they do.”

PICTURES: BRIAN TONKS AND KEITH GILLARD