Gilberto Silva answers your questions about Ronaldo, Keown and giant anteaters
Someone at Arsenal told me that a zoo had decided to name a giant anteater after me, so I went there to meet it. That was weird, but it made me very proud!
“I’m around the corner; see you soon.” Brazilians may not be known for their punctuality, but barely two minutes after hanging up the phone, Gilberto Silva walks into the St James’ Court hotel in central London to meet FFT.
The 43-year-old is pretty much still the same slim figure he was in his playing days, even though it’s six years since he played his last professional game and he’s notably absent from the perennial circuit of legends matches. “My knees wouldn’t allow me now,” says Gilberto.
Although his playing career wound up back in his native Brazil, the ex-arsenal midfielder was indeed just around the corner today: he returned to London a few months ago so that his son and daughter, Gilberto Junior and Isabella, can finish their secondary studies at an international school. The family live in a Westminster apartment – a change of scenery from his previous residency in the capital, when he called the north London suburbs home.
Gilberto spent six happy seasons with the Gunners. More than a decade later, he’s here to tackle your questions about a career in which he won the World Cup and became an Invincible...
Is it true you had to quit football as a teenager to get a job instead? Thiago Nunes, Sao Paulo
It wasn’t a matter of giving up – it was a matter of necessity. I was 15 and had been at the America Mineiro academy in Belo Horizonte for five months when my family’s financial situation got really bad. My mother had some health issues, so I went back to my home town to get a job and help them out. For more than two years I worked in a caramel factory – I still remember helping to roll and cut the sweets. In the beginning we would feast on them, but soon even smelling them made my tummy ache.
Then things got much better at home, so I decided to give football another go. I was 19: it would be my last chance to play professionally. I’m still very grateful that America took me back. Luckily I’d never stopped playing. I’d appeared for amateur sides, including one run by the caramel factory. All I wanted was to be given another opportunity.
Who was your biggest influence? Donny Mcdonald, via Instagram
My father was always my role model and my greatest teacher. He had also played amateur football, as a matter of fact. I grew up in a worker’s village next to a sugar plant, and there was a youth team nearby. It was there that I came across Waldir Ribeiro, my first coach. I’m very thankful to him. People like Waldir looked after all the kids; they didn’t just worry about football.
Who were your early footballing idols? @reece_0x, via Instagram
I grew up in the 1980s in Minas Gerais state, and Atletico Mineiro were the best team around. They had a brilliant side, and one of my early idols was Toninho Cerezo, who played for Brazil at the 1982 World Cup. He ended up winning Serie A with Sampdoria in the 1990-91 season and played in the 1992 European Cup Final. They had another amazing player called Reinaldo – maybe the best striker that people outside Brazil never had the chance to see. He had so many injuries.
Zico was another guy I loved to watch. Even if you didn’t support his team, you had to be in awe when he was playing. Also, Franco Baresi was a classy player with an incredible reading of the game. I used to watch Milan games on TV just to see the way he handled everything.
Were you happy being given the tag ‘defensive midfielder’, or was your dream to follow in the footsteps of Pele, Romario et al?
James Hayfield, via Instagram
I don’t know anybody who started out playing football and didn’t want to be a forward! I wasn’t any different. I tried to play upfront as a kind of winger, but gradually I moved back! [Laughs] I also played as a defender when I returned to America Mineiro, as they had a lot of midfielders. I didn’t mind at the time – I was the right height and beggars can’t be choosers. I’d spent nearly three years away from football and just wanted as many chances to play as I could get.
Even after I moved to Atletico, I still played as a defender in some Brazilian championship games – Atletico were in the second tier then. It was only in ’98 that I became a defensive midfielder.
You had played in only three matches for Brazil before the 2002 World Cup. How did you get your big chance, and were you nervous?
Regina Leal, Manaus
I got my first call-up in 2001. Brazil had two World Cup qualifiers left to play, and
a place at the World Cup was not at all guaranteed. I played in a 3-1 defeat to Bolivia and watched the last game from the substitutes’ bench, when we beat Venezuela 3-0 to qualify. But then there were several friendlies before the World Cup, and I played well enough to be in the squad for the tournament.
I was a reserve player until Emerson, the Roma midfielder, injured a shoulder in the final practice session before our first match against Turkey. I felt bad for him, and it was also a blow for the team because Emerson was our captain. All of a sudden, I was starting for Brazil at the World Cup. People barely knew who I was. Of course I was very anxious, but deep inside I knew that I could deal with all the pressure. Besides, I felt somehow that my chance with the national team had finally arrived.
We had an amazing group of players. Many of them had played at France 98, when Brazil lost 3-0 in the final. They all said they didn’t want to experience that horrible sensation ever again, and that galvanised us. I listened to them a lot. In the end, we won, and it’s something I’ll never forget.
Settle it once and for all: Ronaldinho’s quarter-final winner against England – did he really mean it?!
David Jackson, Frome
You expect anything from Ronaldinho! [Laughs] He definitely had the quality to hit that ball. That said, the move we’d been practising in training for free-kicks from that range involved him crossing the ball – I was inside the box, waiting.
The quarter-final against England was such a difficult match for us. We went 1-0 down, and Ronaldinho got sent off right after scoring our second goal, but we just managed to hold England off. It was funny at the end of that match: England sent a lot of high balls towards our penalty box in the last few minutes, but the wind was blowing towards our goal and I don’t think they noticed.
Ronaldinho was a joy to play with and even to watch during training. He made everything look easy, but he would never waste an opportunity to play forwards. He never showboated, and the biggest challenge for whoever played alongside him was to make sure you did your bit, allowing him to do what he did best. We were all part of a machine and the cogs had to work together.
What was the reaction in the Brazil dressing room to Ronaldo’s haircut at the 2002 World Cup?
Louis Goodwin, via Instagram
Oh, he got plenty of stick from us, but we also knew Ronaldo could be playing a big trick on us all. That dodgy haircut deflected a lot of attention from what had happened to him four years earlier, in the hours before the World Cup final against France. I never asked him about it, but I believe he did it to distract even himself from all of that pressure. But he didn’t escape Edmilson nicknaming him ‘Cascao’, after a very famous children’s comic book character in Brazil!
Just how good was Ronaldo?
Arun Chowdhury, via Facebook
He was one of the best players I’ve ever seen. It was unbelievable how Ronaldo came back from that horrific injury – and a long time without playing – to end up scoring eight goals at a World Cup. With Ronaldo on the pitch, you knew that he would do something special. He always had the goal on his mind, and he scored some pretty special ones.
How did your switch to Arsenal come about after the 2002 World Cup? You must have had lots of options... Jamie Stein, via Instagram
The whole transfer was conducted by Atletico Mineiro, more or less. I’d heard there was some interest from Villarreal, Werder Bremen and Besiktas, but I was sold to Arsenal. At the time, the Premier League wasn’t regularly on Brazilian TV and I didn’t know much about the club, but the fact they were in the Champions League was something that interested me a lot. I had a few words with Edu as well, although we only properly talked about the club after I joined. So, I went over to England and then I scored in my first game – a 1-0 win against Liverpool in the Community Shield – after coming on for Edu at half-time. That was really important, to encourage me.
How did you feel when you arrived at Arsenal? I believe you said at the time that London was “too big”.
Kevin Walker, Islington
Yes, in the beginning it was daunting, but eventually I got to know it very well. Central London can be quite noisy and I kept away from it before, but now we live near Westminster. It’s impossible to drive around, so I’ll walk or get on the Tube. People don’t recognise me. I put a cap on and become invisible! [Laughs]
Was training as crazy as people say? Lauren recalls a story about Martin Keown breaking Rami Shaaban’s leg… Terry Keeley, Potters Bar
We trained like we played – there was a lot of intensity and everyone worked hard. But the incident with Martin was totally different from what people say – for a start, he and Rami were playing for the same side in training. They were both watching the flight of the ball and they collided. It was a very sad accident.
Do you still hear Martin Keown yelling at you in your dreams?
Johnny Sutton, Stevenage
Yes, I do. I can still hear him screaming, or calling my name to keep things tidy. Martin’s a great guy and he was always very friendly, for all of his seriousness. It was crucial for me to have a guy like him in the dressing room; someone who knew the culture of English football. He was a passionate player.
People bring up the incident with Ruud van Nistelrooy at Old Trafford. Of course, no one was proud about how that game became too heated, but there was such
a huge rivalry between those two teams. Also, before the penalty, Van Nistelrooy had been in an incident in which Patrick Vieira got sent off. The penalty decision wasn’t clear, either, by the way! [Laughs] So, when Van Nistelrooy hit the crossbar, it got a bit emotional and Martin jumped on him. Tempers flared after that.
Martin once pulled me to one side and asked, “How can it be possible that you never get booked, mate?” I just said to him, “Martin, I’ve trained to win the ball as much as I can – I’ve always been like that.” I guess that’s my secret: I always tried as hard as I could to avoid fouling. I needed to look after myself in terms of fitness, and try to adapt my game as much as I could to the different kinds of players I’d face on the pitch. I was only booked 18 times for Arsenal – pretty low for a defensive midfielder.
If you could win either the Premier League undefeated or the World Cup with Brazil again, which would it be? Ben Marsden, via Instagram
I think I’d always choose the World Cup, because I remember how much winning it meant to Brazil and how people back home partied. It was a very impressive reaction, and it was only then that the responsibility of wearing the Brazil shirt dawned on me. Almost 20 years later, people in several parts of the world still stop you and talk about the 2002 Brazil team. I’m not saying it wasn’t special to be part of the Invincibles, but those two situations are different.
Did Arsene Wenger’s obsession with winning the league undefeated stop Arsenal from winning the Champions League and/or FA Cup in 2003-04? Does it annoy you that you didn’t do better in Europe that year?
Jake Christie, via Instagram
We tried to distance ourselves from talk of an undefeated league season.
We were really stung by how we’d blown the lead we had over Manchester United in the 2002-03 title race, and all we wanted to do was take the title from them. Arsene did give an interview saying that we could win the league without losing a match, and that could have put a lot of pressure on us. Instead, we tried to enjoy the challenge of playing each game like a final.
It was disappointing that we didn’t do better in Europe. We had a team good enough to have challenged for the title, but that’s football – sometimes things don’t go your way, even when the odds are favourable for you. I still feel a little bit sad talking about the Champions League, because we were so close to winning it in 2006 and ended up losing to Barcelona in the dying minutes. Arsene did a fantastic job keeping together a side with so many individual talents. He managed to earn our respect without having to fight with anyone, and all of the players admired him.
What was the feeling like in Arsenal’s dressing room after the 2-1 win over Leicester to confirm us as Invincibles in 2003-04?
Kenny Lomas, via Facebook
It was such an impressive achievement. We did something that had happened only once before – in the 19th century. We felt extremely proud after that last match, even though we’d already won the title at Tottenham before that game. It was just the result of incredible work. We had a team with a lot of quality and a group that gelled amazingly well. We pretty much had a starting line-up with players that were also starters for their national team: France, England, Brazil, Sweden. In our prime, we were tough to beat, as that season proved. We peaked at the right time to do it.
Were you gutted to lose to a Thierry Henry header at the 2006 World Cup? Paul White, Milton Keynes
Yes, that was a tough one to take, but we had to understand that Brazil didn’t have a great tournament. France were a bit on and off as well, but they really
“SOME PEOPLE WERE SCEPTICAL WHEN I ARRIVED. THEY THOUGHT A BRAZILIAN MIDFIELDER NEEDED TO SCORE GOALS. I’M HAPPY TO HAVE CHANGED SOME MINDS”
turned up the heat in Frankfurt. It was like they were fired up by facing Brazil in a quarter-final. They did their job and we didn’t. Thierry never took the mickey or anything about that match, though. [FFT: Just how good was he to play with at Arsenal?] Thierry had incredible pace and technique, and he was also a very strong player. He didn’t have moves like Ronaldinho, but he was goal-oriented just like Ronaldo. And he could finish, couldn’t he? [Laughs]
Which central midfield partner was your favourite?
@mygreatest11, via Instagram
I have to say Patrick Vieira. We formed a very strong partnership. I also have to mention Kleberson: I played alongside him during the 2002 World Cup, when he was a rookie like me in that side, but we didn’t have a lot of games together. Patrick and I worked side by side for so many matches at Arsenal and we were part of the Invincibles.
Why didn’t Arsenal win the Premier League again after 2003-04?
Susan Nixon, Aylesbury
Two major things happened at Arsenal after 2004 – a change of stadium and a change of guard. A number of senior players were reaching the end of their cycle, and the young ones needed time to adapt. But the stadium also meant that, for quite a while, Arsenal weren’t able to compete financially with other teams. That created a situation where the players who were signed to replace my generation ended up leaving as well. I think the club is still feeling the effect of that today.
Highbury was such a special place to play football. I remember we had a tall team and the tunnel leading to the pitch was really narrow, so there always was the impression that we were towering over the opposition. But the club wanted to increase revenue and try to be more competitive. The league became much more competitive after 2004, although Arsenal had a very good chance to win it again in 2015-16. They were leading halfway through the season, but then they dropped some important points and Leicester did what they did. It was the closest they have come to winning the league again.
Were you frustrated about not being made captain of Arsenal?
Weewoon Lam, via Facebook
I was expecting to get the armband – in the 2006-07 season, I wore it every time that Thierry Henry wasn’t on the pitch. Seniority pretty much suggested that, after his departure, the armband would come to me. But Arsene decided to give it to William Gallas by the time I’d come back from international duty with Brazil at the Copa America, which meant that I missed pre-season.
But what made me consider leaving was when I wasn’t being played. I know Mathieu Flamini had a good season, but I wanted to play. I never had a row with Arsene. Something was said about me refusing to play as a defender – I never did. On the contrary, I was once asked to train in that position, and I said that they should play me in that position if they wanted me to train as a defender. I was preparing myself for the transition to play in the back four.
Do you think you perhaps left Arsenal a bit too soon? They really struggled without a proper defensive midfielder for years afterwards.
Mark Mcconville, via Twitter
No, I don’t regret anything. I had a good chat with Arsene about his plans, and reached the conclusion that it was time to try something new. It was a bit ironic that some of the younger players then left the club after me, especially Flamini who went to Milan.
I’ve been told that some supporters think Arsenal still miss a player with my characteristics. If so, it’s an honour to have left a good impression and to be recognised for the all work I did. When I arrived in England, some people were a bit sceptical about how useful I could be for the team. I guess they thought a Brazilian midfielder needed to score
"WHEN ARSENE SAID WE COULD GO UNBEATEN ALL SEASON, WE TRIED TO ENJOY THE CHALLENGE OF EACH GAME BEING A FINAL”
goals. Several times, I had to explain to people that I wasn’t that kind of player. I’m happy that I succeeded in changing some minds in the end.
You had a giant anteater named after you at Colchester Zoo – is that one of your proudest achievements?
Lee Merton, Southend
[Laughs] That was a weird moment that makes me very proud, too! Someone at
Arsenal told me the zoo had decided to name the anteater ‘Gilberto’, so I went there to meet it and take some pictures. I don’t even know if it’s still alive, but it was a nice – and weird – moment.
Why did you pick Panathinaikos after Arsenal? Were other sides interested? Jessie Lennon Stephens, via Instagram At the time I decided to move on, there were some rumours about Everton, but