Ireland’s former skipper Robbie Keane has revealed why he insisted on donning the famous number 10 jersey when he played in green and why it was former Italian striker Roberto Baggio who inspired that decision.
As other children of the 80s will remember, Italian football was regularly shown on Irish TV and it left a big impression on the Tallaght native.
“When I was a kid growing up Italian football was always on… for some reason Roberto Baggio always stood out, he always played in the hole and always scored great goals.”
WATCH: 🎧 Robbie Keane reveals the 🇮🇹 legend who inspired him to wear the number 10 jersey 🇮🇪 #TheCallUp pic.twitter.com/fMoCjlQIRb
— Three Ireland News (@ThreeIreland) May 2, 2017
So naturally Keane was delighted when, after joining the Ireland squad, Gary Kelly took to calling him ‘Baggio’.
Ireland’s leading goalscorer has passed his love for the Italian legend on to his son, also Robert.
“I try to explain to him that he was probably one of the greatest number 10s of all time… Apart from when Paul McGrath had him in his pocket in 1994.”
Robbie Keane spoke about his career in green to launch Three’s #TheCallUp campaign.
