Ahead of the 2014 World Cup opener we sat down with ex-Real Madrid, Spain and Bolton defender Fernando Hierro in Rio de Janiero with adidas to talk about his World Cup memories and how he's enjoying the Brazilian atmosphere.
SB: What are your first impressions of Brazil and the atmosphere around the World Cup?
FH: It's been really positive, it's a nice place to be and you can really feel the sensation that everyone's ready for it to start, everyone has their game faces on, everyone is really excited! I arrived last night and I cant wait to see the tournament start.
SB: What makes Brazil such a great country?
FH: I came here last year, I was here with FIFA for 3 weeks for the Confederations Cup and I got to visit many cities in Brazil such as Rio, Sao Paulo, Fortaleza, Belo Horizonte and it was really nice to experience a country for a long time and to see how beautiful Brazil really is.
SB: What's your schedule for the group stage? Which games are you going to?
FH: I'm really lucky to be here and I'm really happy that adidas have brought me out to Brazil because I'm going to go and see Spain vs Holland tomorrow and then I get to see Spain play at the Maracana (vs Chile) which I'm really excited about, that's the one I'm looking forward to the most, Spain playing at the Maracana.
SB: Which Spanish players that you played with would get into the current team?
FH: That's a really difficult question to answer! It's very hard for any player to break into this team, this team has won three major international tournaments, it's our greatest ever generation of players. If there's any player that could get in from my era it would definitely be Raul, he'd get in.
SB: Would you get in?
FH: I don't think I would! Ramos and Pique are such good defenders, I think they're in the best top 5 players in the world so for a player like me to compare myself to those players is hard. For me personally it's very hard to talk about myself, I'm a very reserved person, I'd rather talk about other people than myself.
SB: Which players from the current Spanish team would you have loved to have played with?
FH: It's very hard to pick just one player, I played with one or two in my time at Real Madrid but the stand out player is Iniesta, he's incredible. I got to play the 2002 World Cup with Xavi and it would have been nice to have played more with him.
SB: You played in England with Bolton too, how was that experience?
FH: I went to England very late, when I was 36. I was only there for one year but I had a great time there, it was a really cherishing moment in my career. I got to see and understand the way the English people respect football, I was well treated there and I got to see and do a lot of things I didn't do in Spain. I would have loved to spend more time playing in England, the fans were great, I'd love to see Bolton get back into the Premier League because the fans deserve it.
Top bloke. Not many players can list Bolton and Real Madrid on their career path. Which ex-Spain players do you think would get into the current squad? Let us know.
