“i chose a gospel song at my chelsea initiation. finally mourinho said, ‘enough, boy, you are really bad!’”

CRUZEIRO 0 FLAMENGO 1 Copa do Brasil, 1995 “This game made me leave behind youth football and spread my wings. I was 18. We played against Romario’s Flamengo and, despite losing, everyone recognised m

Who were your heroes, growing up? Being a footballer is the dream for many boys and girls – I was no different. My dad used to work near Loftus Road, so despite having Arsenal and Palace fans in the f

How did your move to Southampton come about in 1996? I was scoring loads of goals in Norway and I went to Southampton on trial for a few days. They liked what they saw. It was a dream come true: every

O wen Hargreaves is one of English football’s most curious cases. The son of a Welsh mother and an English father, he was born in Canada before moving to Bayern Munich as a teenager. There, he broke i

When the Chernobyl nuclear disaster happened in April 1986, I was nine years old. I’d just had a trial with Dynamo Kyiv, and it had gone well, but everything changed. In the first few days following t

What’s been the highlight of your international career? Definitely winning a bronze medal at the World Cup two years ago. I still get goosebumps when I think about it. The whole tournament was a highl