Local Manchester United and Liverpool football fans were on cloud nine after meeting English Premier League (EPL) legends from both clubs during the imagine Football Fiesta (IFF) meet and greet session, at The Empire Brunei’s Indera Samudra Hall yesterday.
EPL legends in attendance were Jermaine Pennant, Phil Babb, David Thompson, Luis Garcia, John Durnin, Emile Heskey, Vladimir Smicer and Patrik Berger from Liverpool; and David May, Dimitar Berbatov, Paul Rachubka, Erik Nevland, Eric Djemba-Djemba, Benjamin Thornley, Daniel Webber and Wes Brown from Manchester United.
Fans had the opportunity to ask the legends to choose their favourite player between Messi and Ronaldo, with the majority going for Messi, while still acknowledging both players’ greatness on the pitch.
Liverpool die-hard fan Pengiran Haji Reza Redzuan bin Pengiran Haji Rani was one of the lucky fans who met the legends.
In an interview, Pengiran Haji Reza Redzuan shared, “I am really excited to meet the EPL legends. It’s a golden opportunity. I’ve been to Anfield but this is my first time seeing the players up close. I’m especially excited about Emile Heskey. He’s my idol and I play football because of him. He shows that even big guys can play football well.”
On being a Liverpool fan, he shared, “I have been a Liverpool fan since I was young. For this season, I had high hopes that we could be the league champions, but since they lost three games and had one draw, we can only hope that Manchester City and Arsenal will drop points in the coming games.”
Meanwhile, couple Hafizan bin Hisham and Shazwani binti Haji Shahibulbahri, who were also ecstatic to meet the legends, shared that they were so happy and excited to be able to be up close and personal with their favourite EPL players.
Hafizan, a Liverpool fan, said, “I am really happy to meet my idol Luis Garcia. He’s my favourite because of his football skills – I can still remember his goal against Juventus during the champion league.”
He added, “My father is also a Liverpool fan. When I was five years old, my parents had already bought a Liverpool jersey for me.”
The couple were also involved in the football clinic on Monday, and believed that it was a great moment for the children, to aspire to become professional footballers in the future. – James Kon
