‘I was neither an a**hole nor selfish’ – Benni raves after Mourinho’s foreward

Bafana Bafana legend Benni McCarthy is over the moon following Jose Mourinho’s positive remarks on his book.

The Harambee Stars coach recently unveiled his autobiography where he narrates how football helped him to get out of poverty. He explains how it started, the challenges he faced and of course about 2004 when he played a crucial role in Porto’s journey to the UEFA Champions League glory.

Legendary Benfica coach Jose Mourinno wrote the foreword on the book which gave Benni a chance to explain his life in football, and what made him last in Europe.

The former striker turned on for Ajax, Celta Vigo, Porto, Blackburn Rovers, and West Ham United before he came back home in 2011 where he gave Orlando Pirates two years.

Benni: I wasn’t bigger, I wasn’t selfish

“You know, I think a lot of people’s views will change when they hear, you know, what he actually said, and how I was more than just a football player, you know, I was a humanitarian as well, and the way I conducted myself. You know that I’ve earned the respect from people, that people didn’t just respect me because I’m a goal scorer, but I was a complete player,” he told iDiski Times.

“I was a team player as well. For example, in the Champions League final, if I were an asshole, I would have just said, like, ‘No, I want to play. I’ve got the team to where I was,’ but if I had to be sacrificed, I’d take it, you know, I wasn’t bigger than the team. I wasn’t bigger than anybody.

“If the manager feels that that’s probably the best thing to do, and then, yeah, I take it, you know, not happy, but I take it because it’s in the best interest of the team, and I think that’s what was respected more than anything else when it comes to that.

“And I think that’s why he will always speak very highly of me, because I wasn’t a selfish player. I didn’t make it about me,” Benni concluded.