almunia-dcManuel Almunia is a world class goalkeeper; but had it not been for an asthma problem the Spaniard could have been plying his trade as a striker!

When Almunia visited Great Ormond Street hospital to promote Arsenal’s charity, the old memories flashed in Almunia’s head:

“It reminds me a lot of my childhood, seeing children with apparatus in their mouth, trying to breathe.

“I’m a goalkeeper because I couldn’t run anywhere. I wanted to be an outfield player, but my father did not allow me to run a lot, so I was between the sticks all the time. All children want to score goals and I wanted to be a striker, but from the time I first played football, when I was six or seven years old, I was a goalkeeper.”