A lot of people don't know that my father is black

What you've got to realise is that footballers, and me in particular, have seen everything in the changing room. Everything. I've seen the manager kicking off with the players, the players kicking off with him, players fighting each other, managers fighting, everything.

When Cristiano Ronaldo gets the ball, you can just leave him to it while he beats player after player.

European football games or evening games seem to take a lot more out of you because you don't sleep that night. And as you get older, it gets worse.

Where I grew up, people obviously knew my dad because it's a small place and he was the top player for Swinton - they'd go and watch him play, see him in the papers, so they knew he was black.

Messi is probably the best player of the last 20 years.

Looking at me from the outside, it is not very obvious, I know half my family is black and I feel close to their culture and their color.