“Playing for my country, trying to help us win. I was almost riding a wave. I felt invincible.”
Twenty years ago this week, an 18-year-old Wayne Rooney was introducing himself to Lilian Thuram.
The Frenchman - a World Cup winner and European champion - was one of the most vaunted defenders in the game, while Rooney had just finished his first full top-flight season, playing for Everton, who finished 17th in the Premier League, narrowly avoiding relegation.
Thuram wasn’t convinced by the Toffees tyro, despite the significant impact he’d made since his memorable, game-winning debut against Arsenal as a 16-year-old in October 2002.