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4th October 2023
12:48pm BST
Rivaldo was one of the stars of Brazil's World Cup triumph in 2002.[/caption]
"There's a pre-amble to this, however," O'Hanlon explains.
"Back in 2002, I went away to see Ireland play Portugal in Lisbon.
"I flew from London to Lisbon. I arrive at the airport, join the taxi queue, and standing right beside me is Rivaldo. That's no word of a lie."
"I realised it was him immediately. He's unmistakable.
"He was one of the most iconic people in the world, never mind footballers, he's standing in the queue beside me, holding a baby in his arms," continues O'Hanlon, who is renowned for playing a certain priest in Father Ted.
You can watch the encounter from 6.50 to 7.30 in the below clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qqMCyvvBuQ
"His baby girl drops her blanket on the ground.
"I pick it up. I pick up Rivaldo's daughter's blanket.
"So I say 'there you go Rivaldo, she dropped that,' and he kind of smiles at me and whatever else, and I'm going, Rivaldo, we're mates for life. So I'm so thrilled, this exceeds your wildest dreams."
Mates for life.
"So then four years later, we spend this great week in Athens, I'm finding out about the history about Olympiacos.
"But anyway, we're in the training ground in Olympiacos and I see Rivaldo jogging around the pitch on his own so I run over to him, with the camera and everything, and I go 'hey Rivaldo, remember me,' I gave you your daughter's blanket, and he's just looking at me going 'get him away, get him away!'"
[caption id="attachment_293634" align="alignnone" width="1024"]
MADRID, SPAIN - SEPTEMBER 28: Rivaldo of Olympiakos is flanked by David Beckham (R) and Guti of Real Madrid of Olympiakos during a Uefa Champions League, Group F, match between Real Madrid and Olympiakos at the Bernabeu on September 28, 2005, in Madrid, Spain.(Photo by Denis Doyle/Getty Images)[/caption]
There was another occasion, this time as he delved into the Barcelona-Real Madrid rivalry, where O'Hanlon caught a glimpse of their star striker Samuel Eto'o experiencing some car-park struggles.
"I remember we were at the training ground and Eto'o was in his hummer, a few days before it, going along.
"So he drove into training in a hummer. This really cool player, in this really cool car, but because it was a hummer, he couldn't turn into the underground car-park, so it was a seven point turn, really embarrassing," he laughs.
From Barcelona-Real Madrid, Roma-Lazio, Feyenoord-Amsterdam, Olympiacos-Panathinaikos, Galatasaray-Fernabache, the show took him to some great games and rivalries.
"The whole thing was a labour of love, a huge childhood ambition.
"When Billy McGrath came to me and asked me for an idea for a show, I told him this was a show I wanted to make since I was a child.
"Because I love travel, I love football and I love culture - the things that make up a culture, and I think football is a great window into the soul of a nation."
You can watch the full House of Football show here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI4u-FFe3dwExplore more on these topics:
