Osasuna Reap Benefits Of Nekounam's Street Education

GOAL - When Spanish club Osasuna take on Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers on Thursday, the fans and players should thank Javad Nekounam.

The Iranian midfielder headed home the winner for the Pamplona club in the last minute of extra-time against Bordeaux in the previous round.

The 26 year-old joined the club from Sharjah last summer and, as he told Scotland’s Sunday Herald, his footballing background is an unusual one.

“I grew up playing games in the streets of our neighbourhood at a time when this utterly wrong war was damaging our country and threatening everyone's lives," the international revealed.

"Each street had it's own football team and we competed against each other - mostly I have great memories from those times.

"The very first games I went to watch as a tiny boy are, in fact, my first memories in life.

"My father would take me to the stadium even though it meant leaving the house at eight in the morning in order to beat the stadium gates being locked because of a full house at 11am and that was for an evening kick off!

"Probably it was a fluke, but everyone in those neighbourhood teams thought they really could become a professional and some did, including my great friend Ali Karimi who I used to play with and who's now a star at Bayern Munich."