Aston Villa’s Karim El Ahmadi remembers Everton’s powerhouse midfielder Marouane Fellaini being just as big as a teenager – even if his hair was slightly smaller.
This weekend El Ahmadi will be charged with the task of stopping Fellaini, who bullied Manchester United during the Toffees’ 1-0 win on Monday night.
And El Ahmadi is relishing taking on a player who was briefly his Moroccan youth team colleague before pledging his international career to Belgium.
“I didn’t watch it, the match on Monday, but I saw some of the highlights,” said El Ahmadi. “When we were younger I played with him. We were playing in the young team of Morocco.
“He came to play with us for one game, because he didn’t know what to choose – Belgium or Morocco. He chose Belgium, so I played with him for one game and know him a little bit.”
Even back then, Fellaini was a formidable physical presence, although the 24-year-old has gone on to make more of an impact at Goodison Park than El Ahmadi expected.
“I would have been 20 and he was a little bit younger – 18 or 17,” said El Ahmadi, who is three years older than Fellaini.
“He was big back then – but he didn’t have such big hair, he’s grown that! That’s the nice thing about football that you can catch up with each other and see each other and it will be nice to play against him.
“In the beginning I didn’t expect it, but if you see how he has played in the Premier League since he came to Everton it’s amazing.
“He’s very good and it’s always good to play against big guys and big names, but I’ll just play my own game and not think too much about who I am up against.”
