{"id":239194,"date":"2023-10-23T09:31:56","date_gmt":"2023-10-23T09:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/?p=239194"},"modified":"2023-10-23T09:31:56","modified_gmt":"2023-10-23T09:31:56","slug":"im-a-former-england-star-i-was-stunned-when-i-joined-barcelona-and-was-given-wine-in-my-pre-match-lunch-the-sun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovemainstream.com\/lifestyle\/im-a-former-england-star-i-was-stunned-when-i-joined-barcelona-and-was-given-wine-in-my-pre-match-lunch-the-sun\/","title":{"rendered":"I'm a former England star – I was stunned when I joined Barcelona and was given wine in my pre-match lunch | The Sun"},"content":{"rendered":"

GARY LINEKER was shocked when he joined Barcelona and found out the team would drink wine pre-match.<\/p>\n

The former England striker played for the Catalan giants from 1986 to 1989. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

And when Lineker arrived from Everton, he was left stunned by the Spanish drinking culture. <\/p>\n

The 62-year-old revealed that players would sit on tables of four and finish a bottle of wine the night before and again in the afternoon with lunch prior to going out at the Nou Camp.<\/p>\n

He told the Rest is Football podcast: "I remember we went down, me and Mark Hughes, and we sat at the table, saying: 'There's wine on the table that's a bit weird'.<\/p>\n

"It was the same routine every match. There was a salad put on the table, one of the players would mix that salad with olive oil, vinegar and salt.<\/p>\n

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"Then we would get our pre-match meal and you'd finish off the bottle between the four of you.<\/p>\n

"Hughes and myself just thought 'imagine this at home'.<\/p>\n

"But the reasoning for it is that you'd have a glass-and-a-half each, then you'd have a two or three hour siesta because in those days the earliest you'd play would be five o'clock or later.<\/p>\n

"We just could not believe it. It can't still be a thing now, I don't imagine it is."<\/p>\n

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Alan Shearer then joked: "I'd imagine half of my Newcastle team having a glass of wine with a pre-match meal – there's no way they are staying at one glass.<\/p>\n

"Honestly, half the time they would have been p***ed."<\/p>\n

Micah Richards also chimed to say he was doing similar during his spell with Fiorentina. <\/p>\n

He was with the Italian side from 2014 to 2015 and revealed that the whole team would go for a glass of wine in the afternoon following a training session with the players' Wags even allowed to join them.<\/p>\n

And the night before a match he also allowed to have a sip of booze.<\/p>\n

Richards said: "The lifestyle is completely different to what we are used to and it opened up my eyes.<\/p>\n

"People all ask me: 'Why are you always so happy?' Now I know how to enjoy life to the max."<\/p>\n

The ex-Manchester City defender said: "I don't tell lies, if I was on the bench I was having a bottle to myself." <\/p>\n


\nSource: Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

GARY LINEKER was shocked when he joined Barcelona and found out the team would drink wine pre-match. 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