PREMIER LEAGUE great Peter Crouch revealed the legendary Robert Prosinecki smoked cigarettes in the showers at half-time when he played for Portsmouth.
Crouch and Prosinecki were team-mates at Pompey during the 2001-2002 season and the former has some very fond memories playing with the legendary midfielder.
The former striker still remembers one of the Croatian great’s most unusual rituals, which involved him enjoying a smoke during the manager’s half-time team talk.
Then gaffer Harry Redknapp would allow Prosinecki, who came close to the Ballon d’Or in the 1990s, to partake in the shocking habit.
The ex-Tottenham and Liverpool star, though, insists that when the Real Madrid great put on a pair of boots he was always a “genius” on the pitch.
Crouch said during the latest episode of That Peter Crouch Podcast: “Prosinecki was the best I’ve seen in the dressing room.
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“I mean Harry would let him do it, but at half-time he’d just be in the showers having a fag.
“Every time he would say, ‘Robbie’ and he would just pop [and respond], ‘gaffer’! You’d see smoke coming out.
“You obviously don’t get away with that if you’re a normal player. But if you’re him, I mean the man was a genius.”
But Prosinecki’s smoking habit wasn’t the only “weird” phenomenon that took place at the Portsmouth dressing room on a regular basis.
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Shaun Derry suffered from pre-match jitters and would always be sick before taking to the pitch.
Crouch added: “That shower room was weird, Shaun Derry used to throw up before every game [because of] nervous energy.
“Robbie would be there having a fag, Derry would be throwing up… But great times.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk