Muntari: We Played To Eat

Speaking ahead of his side's date with destiny against Cardiff later today, Muntari reflected on his days as a poor boy in Africa during which he and his friends often would only get to eat if they won a game of street football.

"We'd challenge other teams to make money in order to eat," the ex Udinese star revealed.

"On a Saturday, when I had Arabic school, I wouldn't go and instead I'd go out with my Christian friends. Every street we reached, we'd play a game. We had a little bit of money so we'd put it on the game. If we won, we took all of it.

"If you leave home in the morning, your mum will definitely be angry with you so you can't go back home to get food. You have to play football to earn money to eat. We'd play barefoot, from gutter to gutter and it might have been on streets where cars would pass so it was dangerous.

"If we lost, we didn't eat but we had good players. Our neighbourhood is known to be a little bit notorious so other teams got afraid of us and that gave us an advantage to win. We were very strong and we wanted to win everything."

When asked whether that was where he developed his reputation for having a mean streak on the pitch, Muntari insisted: "I am not a bad boy. I just don't want someone to take advantage of me.

"If you speak your mind, people will say 'He thinks he has made it' but that's not the case. I don't want you to step on me so before you do that, I am going to step on you."

Finally, Muntari spoke directly about today's massive match and his determination not to come out on the losing end.

"It's always been my dream to play in England, and to reach the FA Cup final in my first season is amazing," he said. "We might be the favourites but when you have the pressure on you, that shows you are doing well. These are the times that people need you, these are the times that everyone is looking at your club. You don't have to be afraid."