Monday, October 10, 2016

25 footballers and their biggest idols featuring Ibrahimovic, Messi and Rooney's childhood heroes

1. Xavi loved Matt Le Tissier – scroll through the gallery to see other footballers and their biggest idols 2. Sergio Aguero was a huge admirer of Liverpool striker Michael Owen 3. David Beckham 4. Lionel Messi liked Pablo Aimar 5&6. Karim Benzema and Zlatan Ibrahimovic really liked Ronaldo 7. Dimitar Berbatov looked up to Alan Shearer 8. Dennis Bergkamp loved watching Glenn Hoddle play for Tottenham 9&10. Cesc Fabregas and Andres Iniesta both idolised Pep Guardiola 11&12. Eden Hazard and Mario Gotze idolised Zinedine Zidane 13. Carlos Valderrama was an idol to James Rodriguez 14. Thierry Henry was an idol of Robert Lewandowski 15. Manuel Neuer realled liked Jens Lehmann 16. Neymar tried to emulate Robinho 17&18. Oscar and Paul Pogba both idolised Kaka 19&20. Dimitri Payet and Willian loved watching Ronaldinho 21. Marco Reus 22. Wayne Rooney was a big fan of Goodison favourite Duncan Ferguson 23. Luis Suarez was a fan of Gabriel Batistuta 24. Fernando Torres 25. Cristiano Ronaldo had no particular idol

When Matt Le Tissier found out Barcelona icon Xavi looked up to him as a child the former Southampton playmaker had a t-shirt specially made reading: 'Xavi loves me'.

The admiration stems from a Spanish televison show dedicated to the weekend's best Premier League goals which was shown every Monday and featured Le Tissier on a regular basis – "I'm talking outrageous, sickening goals," Xavi said of the finishes.

Here, talkSPORT looks at other footballers and their biggest childhood idols.

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