Footballers and their childhood idols, including Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero and Paul Pogba’s heroes
When Matt Le Tissier found out Barcelona iconXavi looked up to him as a child, the Southampton legend had a t-shirt specially, which read: ‘Xaviloves me’.The admiration stems from a Spanish television show dedicated to the weekend’s best Premier League goals shownevery Monday and, naturally, featured Le Tissier on a regular basis.“I’m talking outrageous, sickening goals,” Xavi said of the finishes.
REVEALED: Footballers who played for their boyhood club’s rivals
Here, talkSPORT.com looks at other footballers and their biggest childhood idols, including Lionel Messi’s hero, the influence of Tottenham on Dennis Bergkamp and who Cristiano Ronaldo looks up to.You can even find out which Premier League legend’s shirt Dimitar Berbatov slept in.
181. Xavi loved Matt Le Tissier scroll through the gallery to see other footballers and their biggest idols – Xavi revealed his household was "obsessed" with Southampton legend Le Tissier when the former Barca midfielder was growing up in Spain.
182. Sergio Aguero was a huge admirer of Liverpool striker Michael Owen – In his autobiography, Aguero wrote: "City fans might not want to hear it, but when I was a kid I wanted to be Owen. I've always liked Liverpool."
183. David Beckham's hero was Man United midfielder Bryan Robson – Beckham followed in the footsteps of his boyhood hero by becoming England captain and a legendary Man United number seven.
184. Lionel Messi liked Pablo Aimar – Aimar was a technically brilliant and skilful Argentina international, so it's little surprise Messi was, and still is, a big admirer.
185&6. Karim Benzema and Zlatan Ibrahimovic really liked Ronaldo – Ibrahimovic, who has played for Juventus, Man United and Barcelona, once said there "will never be a better player than [Ronaldo]" and Benzema credits the former Brazil and Real Madrid ace as the one who influenced his playing style most.
187. Dimitar Berbatov looked up to Alan Shearer – Berbatov grew up worshiping the Premier League legend. At first I supported Blackburn because Shearer was there, then Newcastle. My parents got me a Newcastle no.9 shirt because they knew I loved Shearer so much. I would sleep in it. Later I lost it, but I went to see my mum recently and she had a shirt for me. I said, What the f**k? Thats my Newcastle shirt! I was so happy to see it again, he told Four Four Two mag.
188. Dennis Bergkamp loved watching Glenn Hoddle play for Tottenham – The Arsenal legend grew up inspired by the Spurs great, but has rubbished rumours he was a Tottenham fan.
189&10. Cesc Fabregas and Andres Iniesta both idolised Pep Guardiola – Both midfielders operate in the same position Guardiola did and model their style on the creative Spaniard.
1811&12. Eden Hazard and Mario Gotze idolised Zinedine Zidane – Both players have been inspired by Zidane since childhood, enthralled by his composure on the ball and elegant playing style.
1813. Carlos Valderrama was an idol to James Rodriguez – Many Colombians see Rodriguez as Valderrama's natural successor as the country's football hero.
1814. Thierry Henry was an idol of Robert Lewandowski's – Goal scorers learn from the best and Lewandowski closely studied Henry during the striker's time at Arsenal where he scored 228 goals.
1815. Manuel Neuer really liked Jens Lehmann – Neuer had plenty of great goalkeepers to follow in his youth, but claims ex-Arsenal no.1 Lehmann was his favourite. "First of all he played for Schalke and I was always impressed by his way of playing and his charisma. He is an attacking goalkeeper. I used to come early to home games when I was little to watch Jens warm-up. He was quite innovative and he did exercises during warm-ups that I hadn't seen anyone else do before."
1816&17. Oscar and Paul Pogba both idolised Kaka – Both midfielders harboured dreams of playing at the highest level in Europe, just as Kaka did. The Brazilian won the Ballon d'Or in 2007 while playing for Italian club Milan. Both midfielders harboured dreams of playing at the highest level in Europe, just as Kaka did. The Brazilian won the Ballon d'Or in 2007 while playing for Italian club Milan. Oscar earned a transfer to Chelsea in 2012 before deciding to leave for the Chinese Super League in 2017, while Pogba won the World Cup with France and became the most expensive player in the world when Man United paid Juve 89m for him in 2016. I had videos of Maradona, Pele, Chris Waddle, Kaka many players. I wanted to have all the virtues of those players," he said.
1818. Marco Reus' football idol was Tomas Rosicky – Reus admired the Dortmund midfielder so much he copied everything about him "right down to his sweatbands."
1819. Wayne Rooney was a big fan of Goodison favourite Duncan Ferguson – Everton fan Rooney has always said Ferguson was his childhood hero. As a child he had posters of him on his bedroom wall.
1820. Luis Suarez was a fan of Gabriel Batistuta – Suarez has described Batistuta as the "ultimate" striker and closely studied his playing style to better his own performances.
1821. Fernando Torres' idol was Kiko – Kiko spent most of his career at Atletico Madrid, so the striker was a natural idol to the young Torres, who began his professional career at the club and took over his mantle as club icon.
1822. Cristiano Ronaldo had no particular idol – When Ronaldo was asked to name the person who had influenced him most, he said he had no specific idols and instead motivated himself to be the best.
Bournemouth 1 Tottenham 0: Nine-man Spurs lose to late Ake header Mauricio Pochettino's Tottenham slipped to a third consecutive 1-0 defeat in all competitions after a pair of red cards at
Late Nathan Ake goal sinks nine-man Spurs against Bournemouth
Newcastle boss Benitez told by pundit to use his OWN MONEY to complete transfer deals FORMER Sky Sports pundit Richard Keys has told Rafael Benitez to spend his OWN MONEY to strengthen the
Richard Keys blasted over bizarre tweet about Newcastle
Feb 11, 2019 · Cesar Azpilicueta has branded Chelsea's 6-0 hammering at Manchester City unacceptable and apologised to supporters. The Londoners crashed to their heaviest defeat since 1991 as the Premier League
Azpilicueta apologises to Chelsea fans after Manchester City
Leicester 3 Fulham 1 live on talkSPORT 2: Free stream and full coverage of 3pm Premier League clash All the information you need to catch the Premier League clash Ayite cancels out Tielemans
Free stream and full coverage of 3pm Premier League clash
sportsalert.org/2019/03/09/free-stream-and-full-coverage-of-3pm-premier-league-clash/
Leicester vs Fulham : How to listen. Full commentary from the East Midlands will be live on talkSPORT 2, with our coverage getting underway at 12pm. Russ Williams will bring you the build-up with John Motson and Alvin Martin on commentary duty and to tune in click below or here for the live commentary stream.
West Ham vs Leicester live on talkSPORT 2: Full commentary
Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku could be involved in
Oxford United manager Karl Robinson has called for referee Ollie Yates to be sacked after his side's late defeat at Gillingham on Saturday. Yates waved away Oxford's penalty appeal after Gillingham goalkeeper Tomas Holy appeared to foul Jerome Sinclair in the 54th minute.
EFL manager calls for referees to be SACKED after a poor
Spurs ban fans trying to sell Champions League final tickets Tottenham Hotspur have indefinitely banned three season ticket holders for trying to re-sell Champions League final tickets online, the
Tottenham ban season-ticket holders trying to sell Champions
What football is on this summer? Nations League, Women's
Women's World Cup 2019: The stars to watch in France including Alex Morgan and Marta talkSPORT will have live coverage of the tournament, which kicks off on Friday between hosts France and South
Women's World Cup 2019: The stars to watch in France
Jamie Vardy: Did Leicester striker call Claude Puel a 'f*****g k*****d' after Manchester United defeat? The former England international appeared to be incensed at his manager after the final
~ Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy appears to call Claude
Paul Scholes has been charged with misconduct by the FA over an alleged breach of the betting rules governing football.. It is alleged that the former Manchester United midfielder, now a co-owner
Ex-Manchester United midfielder Scholes charged over alleged
Bayern Munich have reportedly lodged an improved offer for Callum Hudson-Odoi after their opening bid of £20million was rejected by Chelsea. Hudson-Odoi has been left frustrated with a lack of
Bayern Munich return with £40m bid for Chelsea starlet Callum
0 Comments