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In an exclusive chat, ZOO discovers how Spain fell in
love with La Liga’s deadliest marksman, Michael Owen.
We may invade their coastlines bullishly looking for lager,
fry-ups and ladies, but the Spaniards still love the Brits. That
much is apparent at El Cortes shopping centre in Madrid. Not
only does the name translate as "The English Cuts", but on the
third floor you’ll find a mountainous display of coffee mugs
decorated with those staple British slogans "Internet Café" and
"Big Boy".
One Brit is more popular than most. As Michael Owen, here to
launch Umbro’s new X-Boot, strides through the sports
department, pandemonium ignites. School kids stare in awe, while
grown men applaud and women clutching cameras smile excitedly.
With, at the time of writing, 14 goals for les meringues this
season and the league’s best strikes-per-minute ratio – the
acclaim he receives is unsurprising.
It wasn’t always that way though, with the notoriously harsh
Spanish press questioning his ability when he first arrived –
one columnist even dubbing him a galactico de pacotilla (junk
galactico). But as ZOO sits down to chat, we discover he’s
turned unfavourable opinion clean on its head and is enjoying
life in Spain – even if training at Real can be "frightening"
and Ronaldo’s not to be trusted on the golf course…..
It’s been a good season – have Real given you a fair chance?
You always want to play more, don’t you? I’ve never met a
footballer who doesn’t want to play as much as possible. There’s
only one or two players who’ve been involved in more games than
me – so I’ve played a big part. But obviously only starting half
those games is something I need to improve on.
Is it frustrating, having had a good season, to read so many
stories linking you with a move back home?
Yeah. The press write what’s going on and there’s been a lot
of positive stuff, but, yeah, it’s, "Michael Owen scored the
winner this Sunday and there’s more speculation from such and
such," not, "He’s hit double figures." All the press realise
it’s a tough place to come to and play. I think most of them
realise I’ve had a good season.
Does it help not understanding a word the Spanish press
write?
It does if you’re not playing well! It’s as intense as it is
in England, if not more. There are two daily football papers in
Madrid, telling you how many shots you had in training, giving
you a mark for how you trained. That’s OK when you’re doing well
and I have the papers translated when I’ve scored. When I
haven’t done well, they’re best left alone.
Bet that makes you train harder….
Well at the start, yeah. There are more cameras in one
training session than there are at most Premier League games.
It’s frightening. For the first couple of weeks, I’d come home
from training knackered – more knackered than I’d normally have
been.
How did the lads initiate you?
You go out with the squad and have a meal and a few drinks.
You have to do a speech in Spanish to say hello and thank you. I
had to get my Spanish teacher to help me. I got through
it…..after a couple of drinks.
Do you get to play much golf here?
Yeah, we’ve got quite a regular school going – me, Ronaldo,
Cesar Sanchez…And Guti and Pavon play a bit as well.
Any bandits?
Oh, yeah, Ronaldo. He said he played off 18 and then played
to about nine. Next time, he said, "OK, OK, I play off 16" and
then played to about eight. The next time, "I’ll play off 14".
We think it’s all fair now – but at the end of the year I’ve
lost all my money!
Have they given you a nickname?
Well it’s always been my initials, MO. But over here the
papers have called me a few different things...(Laughs) But "El
Killer" was the one flying around after I scored six in six.
Didi Hamann and Jamie Carragher got to hear about it and now
every time I speak to them they’re, "Alright, El Killer?"
Not "El Midget" then?
(Laughs) Yeah, I had a couple of texts from the lads after
(Carlos Alberto’s rant) going, "Alright Midget?"
What’s it like to have the Bernabeu singing your name?
It’s incredible because it’s not something that happens all
the time here. In England, they’ll sing every time you score but
people say the Real fans can be quite hard. It filled me with
pride to know that they’d taken to me.
Do Spanish defenders trash-talk you in English?
They don’t try to put me off but if there’s a break in play
one or two will come over and try to say hello in English. You
know, if someone’s down, (Raises eyebrows) rolling around, which
happens a lot over here.
Killer turned zoo-keeper - We give Michael the
chance to edit ZOO
Right boss, which sports star should we interview?
Tough one. I’m into a few sports – boxing, golf,
racing….someone like Tiger Woods. He’s one of the most famous
sports stars. I wouldn’t mind knowing what goes on in his head.
And which non-sports celebrity are we getting?
Ricky Gervais, definitely. The Office was one of the
DVD’s I brought over for away trips. I know every episode and
every word now.
Who goes on the cover?
Apart from me? As it’s ZOO, it’s got to be a girl, right?
Natalie Imbruglia. |
