Ronaldinho and my romantic trip to Barca!

MY FUTURE wife didn’t know about the treat I had in store. When we started going out, I took her away for the weekend to Barcelona and promised her a romantic trip to one of the city’s most iconic destinations. It’s fair to say she wasn’t bowled over to find out the trip was to see Barcelona play Celta Vigo at the Nou Camp! Who said romance is dead? But as far as I was concerned, it was a night I’ll never forget after watching Ronaldinho (below). This was the era when he was on fire, the main man in world football. We got to the stadium early and as the team went through their warm-up, he just stayed on his own. It was so funny seeing him not even attempting to jog but, at the same time, it was mesmerising watching him do these tricks. I ended up playing against him a couple of times. I only got on the field briefly in two Champions League ties with Liverpool in 2007, when we knocked Barcelona out. Then, at Fratton Park in 2008, I saw his genius at close quarters. Portsmouth were leading AC Milan 2-0 in the UEFA Cup with 16 minutes to go when he came off the bench. Ronaldinho ended up causing havoc, bending in a free-kick from 25 yards to launch a comeback and help his team draw 2-2, a result that knocked us out of Europe. I also had the pleasure of playing with him once, in a UNICEF game at Old Trafford in November 2015. He’d spent the entire night before out on the town but that didn’t stop him being the best player on the pitch! He announced his retirement this week. What a player.