Cantona wins award...and quotes King Lear!
ERIC CANTONA gained a reputation for eccentricity during his time as a Manchester United player — and yesterday he lived up to that billing two decades on. The Frenchman, who retired in 1997, was introduced before the Champions League draw in Monaco and presented with the 2019 President’s Award, in recognition of his playing career and commitment to charitable causes after it. In a room full of suits, the 53-year-old wore a red open-necked shirt, flat cap and slacks and gave a typically philosophical speech, beginning with a quote from Shakespeare’s
King Lear. ‘As flies to wanton boys, we are for the Gods. They kill us for the sport,’ he said. ‘Soon the science will not only be able to throw down the ageing of the cells; soon the science will fix the cells to the state, and so we’ll become eternal. ‘Only accidents, crimes, wars will still kill us. But unfortunately, crimes and wars will multiply. I love football. Thank you.’ After a pause, an apparently bemused audience — which included a puzzled-looking Cristiano Ronaldo sitting next to great rival Lionel Messi and apparently not a scholar of the Bard — burst into applause. Cantona gave an infamous press conference after his kung-fu kick on a Crystal Palace fan in January 1995, observing that ‘when the seagulls follow the trawler, it’s because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.’