We sit in front of our screens every week end for just watching them playing the beautiful game. They are our everyday life heroes. But, do we know the story behind their lives?
Football is an emotion filled sports. You get different varieties of emotions from just watching a game. It brings you joy, sadness, disappointments and sometimes crazy emotions that lingers in your mind for a long time. That been said, lets see 5 football stories that would make a great movie any day; any time.
The African who conquered Europe: Didier Drogba
The Chelsea legend relocated from Ivory Coast to France at a very young age to live with his uncle who was a professional footballer. A young Drogba had trouble adjusting to new surroundings and he only played football part time and didn’t attend any football academy like most players today.
When he joined Ligue 2 club Le Mans, he struggled to cope with the strict practice regimens and suffered various injuries because his body was not used to training every day. In the end, Drogba would make his professional debut only at the age of 21.
With a lot of hard work and effort, he finally moved up in the football world and eventually played for French giants Olympique de Marseille. A terrific season for Marseille gave him a move to Chelsea and that is where the whole world would come to know about the Ivorian.
There were several questions raised about paying a huge fee for a 26-year-old, who didn’t do anything to warrant such a hefty fee. To this Jose Mourinho replied: “Judge him when he leaves the club.”
Drogba earned praise for his knack to perform in high profile games and cup finals. But he was sent off in the final of the 2008 Champions League and this forced John Terry to take the decisive penalty kick, which if Drogba was on the pitch, was his to take. Terry missed and Drogba’s absence somehow cost them the title.
He made up for his mistake four years later by inspiring Chelsea to come back against Napoli in the first knockout round and following this up with goals in the semi-final and final against Barcelona and Bayern Munich respectively. He also took the fifth and decisive penalty kick in 2012 final and won Chelsea their first Champions League title.
In addition to his on-field performances, Drogba played a huge role in ending the civil war and bringing peace to his nation. Such was the charisma he possessed.
The Prince of Barcelona: Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi was born in Rosario, Argentina to parents Jorge Horacio Messi, a factory steel worker and Celia Maria Cuccittini, a part-time cleaner. He started playing football at the age of five for a local club coached by his father.
In 1995, he moved to Newell’s Old Boys and was part of the youth team that lost just one game in four years. But at the age of 11, he was diagnosed with growth hormone deficiency. Argentine club River Plate were interested in signing Messi but they were unwilling to pay for his treatment which cost $900 a month.
Messi had relatives in Catalonia and, through them, his talents were made known to Barcelona’s sporting director Carles Rexach. Messi was given a chance to arrange a trial for Rexach and after seeing the little boy perform, Rexach was impressed and offered Messi a contract written on a napkin.
Barcelona asked young Messi to move to Spain and he duly obliged. He joined the club’s youth academy in 2000 and after just over four years after joining Barcelona, Lionel Messi made his debut for Barcelona against Espanyol.
Today, years after Messi made his debut for Barcelona as a teenager, he owns numerous footballing records to his name. Messi has achieved so much in his career that writing them down here won’t be enough.
The achievements of one of the greatest footballers of our generation deserve to be documented on reel for future generations to see and admire in awe.
In search of love: Luis Suarez
The highlight of Luis Suarez’s childhood was his poverty. His mother scrubbed floors and his father abandoned them. Suarez, who was entering his teenage years, started skipping practice, drinking and staying out late and his coach had to often drag him from his home for practice.
Then at the age of 15, he met a girl. Her name was Sofia Balbi. Her family lived a comfortable life while Suarez worked as a street sweeper and during his shift he would pick up coins to take her out.
Sofia’s family took Luis into their home. She made Suarez work harder; she made him realise that his laziness was the reason why he was struggling. In her family, Suarez finally found something he had never felt before: a sense of belonging.
In 2003, Sofia’s family moved to Spain. This broke Suarez’ heart; he lost his family, he lost Sofia and he lost the hope for the future.
The only thing that would help him to see Sophia again was to play football till he joins an European club.
He worked hard and in 2006, a small first division club from Netherlands gave him a chance and from there he moved to Ajax, then to Liverpool and now to Barcelona. In 2009, he married the woman who gave him everything when was nothing. Today, they have two kids together.
The Miracle of Istanbul: Liverpools Champions League triumph in 2005
Liverpool came into the 2004/05 season having lost their star striker Michael Owen to Real Madrid and having appointed a new manager in Rafael Benitez.
The Reds didn’t have an easy road to the final of the Champions League that season. On the day of the final group stage game against Olympiakos, the Reds needed to win by a margin of two goals or more to progress to the knockout stage.
Liverpool went behind in the first half and then struggled to take the lead in the game but, eventually, they took a 2-1 lead in the 81st minute. However, they still needed another goal to qualify. With just minutes left on the clock, Steven Gerrard scored a spectacular goal to seal the deal.
Liverpool played AC Milan in the final and the Milan team that played the game was one of the best teams Europe has seen. Their starting eleven consisted of the following players: Dida, Cafu, Nesta, Stam, Maldini, Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf, Kaka, Shevchenko and Crespo.
In comparison to this team of legends, Liverpool looked a very weak side. The gulf in quality was visible on the pitch and Milan took a comfortable 3-0 lead in the first half. At this point, it looked certain that the game was beyond Liverpool’s reach.
In the second half, a period of six crazy minutes saw one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the game. Liverpool scored thrice in that period through Steven Gerrard, Vladamir Smicer and Xabi Alonso. After they drew level, the Reds kept out wave after wave of Milan attacks while fighting with injuries and fatigue.
The game eventually went to penalties and the heroics of Liverpool goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek. Liverpool won their fifth Champions League title on that night.
The Odin of football: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Odin is a hero from Scandinavian mythology and Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic recently called himself a ‘god’. There is no better name befitting the Swedish striker. Ibrahimovic is one of the most iconic footballers in the modern game. The flamboyant striker is known for his out of the world goals and egoistic character, and his past explains his rough and tough attitude.
The Swede was born to a Croat mother and an alcoholic Bosnian father. He was brought up in a place which, in his own words, is a ‘ghetto’ in Malmo, a place in Rosengard. Things were difficult for him at a very young age as his parents broke up when he was just two years old.
Ibrahimovic confessed that he was a frequent thief during his childhood days in the ghetto he was from. But it was the same ghetto that taught him the game he loved. He also revealed that he had never seen a man in a collar until he joined secondary school. Such was the difficult conditions in which he was raised.
Even though he was a regular at Malmo, he nearly quit football to work at the docks when he was 15. But his manager convinced him to pursue a career in football. Ibrahimovic joined Ajax at the age of 20 and it is here that he met his best friend – Maxwell. When Ibrahimovic joined Ajax, he didn’t have money or friends and it was Maxwell who helped him out during a very difficult time of his career.
Maxwell and Ibrahimovic would play together again at Barcelona and even at Paris Saint-Germain. But the striker, now at La Galaxy, has had a decorated career and still scores goals for fun in his mid-30s.
Ibrahimovic once said, “Who would’ve thought the guy from Rosengard would become the captain of Sweden?”