PHIL BABB
Phil Babb has revealed his tried-and-tested method for
nullifying Cristiano Ronaldo - a full-blooded 'forearm chop'.
Babb and Ronaldo shared a training
ground during their time together at Sporting Lisbon - the future Ballon d'Or winner was a
teenager during Babb's waning years - and the defender got a sneak peek at the
Portuguese's fancy footwork before it was shown off to the world during his
spells with Manchester United and Real Madrid.
The ex-Liverpool man, who also
played for Bradford, Coventry and Sunderland over the course of a 14-year
professional career, remembers the 'little kid' who got the better of him on
the training ground.
'[Ronaldo] was really skinny then
and he had this big mop of hair – a bit like Steve McManaman back then,' Babb
said on Sky Sports' 'The Fantasy Football
Club' programme.
'We're doing a training session and
it's attack versus defence. So this little kid runs at me. He steps over twice,
three times, goes past me, sticks it in the top bin.
'All the lads are like "Babbsy
he's had you off" and all that, in Portuguese. So the next time, he's
coming at me: step over one way, step over the next, he shoots past me – so I
forearm chop him. I knock him out.'
PHIL BABB:
FACTFILE
Date
of birth: November
30, 1970
Age: 45
Clubs: Bradford,
Coventry, Liverpool, Tranmere (loan), Sporting Lisbon, Sunderland
International
caps (Ireland): 35
Like every good story, Babb's has a
tidy punchline.
'So Ronaldo's on the floor, and I'm
like "nunca mais" – Portuguese for 'never more' or something like
that,' he said.
'He's looking at me and he doesn't
know what has happened. The training ground's gone quiet.
'Needless to say, he went down the
other side and never came back.'
No comments:
Post a Comment