14 PEOPLE IN A ROOM: GEORGE WEAH'S DRAMATIC LIFE

Ballon d'Or winner and former Liberian President George Weah told his weird and unique career extending from poverty to presidency to the Italian press. He expressed his pain with these striking words: "We slept 14 people in a room. My grandmother Emma slept in the bed, we 13 siblings slept on the floor. My father William and mother By separated and went far away. My grandmother gathered the whole family in a single room and rented the rest of the house to earn some money. We ate rice. Just rice. I was constantly hungry. Hunger… It is a terrible thing. I grew up in the Clara Town slum near the Port of Monrovia, among swamps and mosquitoes. I lived on the streets, did a thousand small jobs to get by, played cards, smoked… I never stole, but if I had to do it out of hunger, I would do it. I love football, I owe everything to it. During my time playing in Milan, some teammates played billiards, some played cards, some read football news on training days in Milanello. Always football, football, football… Life is not this. With the final whistle of the referee, football was no longer the first thing on my mind. Memories of those who died in the civil war came to the surface again: my relatives, friends, cousins, kids I grew up with… During the years I spent in Monaco, Paris, and Milan, I constantly tried not to be in Liberia with my mind. Otherwise, I could not play football. However, I needed to play well. This was my job. For 90 minutes there was only the ball. But as soon as the match ended, my mind returned there, to Liberia." These striking words of Weah went down in history as a real life struggle. All football fans will remember this incredible resistance story with great respect for many years.

IMAGE: LA GAZZETTA DELLO SPORT