The story between Andrew Robertson and Vincent Kompany goes back a long way.
Today, Robertson is known all over the world: Liverpool’s undisputed left back and Scotland captain.
A meeting at Hampden Park
But it was not always like that.
When he was still playing in Scotland, for third-tier Queen’s Park, as an amateur, Robertson also handed out match programmes at Hampden Park, the guides with all the game information sold in the UK before every match.
In an interview with the Guardian, he said that in 2013, when Belgium came to Glasgow to play Scotland, he was tasked with escorting the injured Kompany to his seat. He handed him a programme and took a selfie with the towering center back. A photo the Manchester City captain would probably not even remember.
A meteoric rise
From then on, it was all upward. At the end of that season, Robertson signed for Dundee United, where he received his first national team call-up. Three years at Hull City followed and, finally, Liverpool, with whom he reached the 2018 Champions League final.
On September 7, 2018, five years after he showed Kompany to his seat, they met again at Hampden Park. This time, both were in the starting eleven and both wore the captain’s armband. Belgium won 4-0.
FM had already spotted him
Kompany later said that he remembered the photo perfectly and knew Robertson’s inspiring story, because he had followed his career. And how? Through Football Manager: the Scottish full-back was one of his must-buys in the game, even before he joined Hull.
“Sometimes you see people and immediately remember their face or the moments that happened. He probably doesn’t know it, but I remember him. I used to sign him because it was very hard to find good left backs. I backed him and it went well!”
Did you also have Robertson in your saves before he took off?
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