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An Interview With Lionel The Lionel Perez Interview
1) Who is the best player you have played alongside and why?
Zinedine Zidane because he is simply the best.
2) What made you become a goalkeeper?
Perhaps the fact that I like to be different from everybody.
3) Who were your childhood heroes?
Michel Platini and Yannick Noah. Yannick was a tennis player and Platini, everybody knows him. It was because they were French sportsman who were winning.
4) What was the best save you ever made?
I think it was possibly against Sheffield during the play-offs, but the save I prefer was against Manchester United. We were winning 1-0 at Roker Park in Sunderland and it was finished. They had a corner and Beckham took it. There was a lot of pressure. He put it into my goalmouth and I caught it. It was over and we won.
5) What do you like about Cambridge?
I like the lifestyle. I like riding my bike with the family. It's quiet, it's beautiful, the people are nice and it's not London, not a big city.
6) What do you want to do when you retire from football?
When I retire, in 8 years because I want to play until I'm 41, I want to travel all over the world.
7) Who is the best striker you have played against?
In fact, the striker I really didn't want to play against was John
Hartson. When I was with Sunderland, and we played Arsenal, he was often not in the team because he was injured or suspended, but he's the striker I really didn't like to play against.
8) Who do you think is the best goalkeeper in the world?
Without a shadow of a doubt, it is Fabien Barthez.
9) Which stadium is the best you have ever played in?
Wembley, even if it's not the best to remember as we lost there in the play-offs.
10) Have you ever been capped at international level for your country?
No. When I was young and starting to play in the Premier league in France, Gerard Houlier, who was international manager at the time, never picked me for the team. It's my one big, big disappointment for my football career.
11) How did you feel when France became world champions?
I felt like every French person: very proud of our team, very proud for our country.
12) What are your interests away from football?
My interests away from football are simple. I like to visit the city, to travel. I like wine, because I have a lot of passion about how you can make beautiful wine.
13) Who is your closest friend at the club?
My closest friend at the club is Ali because he's my goalkeeper coach. We meet together and speak about the job, we speak about the life, we speak about everything. He's my closest, closest friend.
14) What is the hardest thing about being a professional footballer?
I don't think it is really something very hard. It's for me, the best job in the world. We are under pressure and sometimes it's quite difficult because every time you have to give the maximum. For us, it's not just a game, it's our life. I really don't see a lot of hard things about being a professional though.
Thanks to Lionel, David Matthews-Jones and Eleanor Chase for this interview.
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