Manchester United legend Eric Cantona was back to his bonkers best on Thursday night as he stunned the UEFA audience into silence with another one of his masterfully bizarre speeches.
King Eric went Shakespearean on us, despite his farmer get-up, as he quoted King Lear, rambled about crime and war and lastly declared his undying love for football – leaving the room of global football stars there for the Champions League draw completely and utterly baffled.
Apart from Pavel Nedved – he seemed to get it. The guy next to him was like the rest of us.
The camera also panned onto superstars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, who didn’t have a clue what was going on either.
Cantona received the UEFA President’s Award at the star-studded do, which saw Liverpool stars Virgil van Dijk and Alisson also get awards before the draw for the group stages of this season’s tournament got underway.
Defending champions Liverpool, defeated finalists Tottenham, Manchester City and Chelsea discovered their opponents, while Van Dijk was also crowned the UEFA Men’s Player of the Year, beating Messi and Ronaldo.
But the highlight of the glitzy evening by far was Cantona’s speech, as he came onto the stage in jeans, a red linen shirt and a flat cap to receive a gong for helping improve the lives of others.
The ‘King’ was then asked, ‘what is going through your mind right now’, which is a very dangerous question indeed.
“As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport,” he replied.
“Soon science will not only be able to slow down the ageing of cells, soon the science will fix cells and so we will become eternal.
“Only accidents, crimes, wars will kill us but unfortunately crimes and wars will multiply.
“I love football. Thank you.”
Bear with us here, we think he might be saying that, while the progress of human science may one day slow down the ageing process and perhaps stave off death altogether, governments and world leaders will still find reasons to create war and conflict in the world – and yet football will always be a pure, blessed release from these troubles and bring us back to the light.
Does that sound right? We’re not sure either, I think we’ll have to watch it again…
Never change, Eric!
