Former Manchester City forward Jô tells of a moment where his fellow Brazilian Robinho realised the physicality of the Premier League.
Jô joined City in 2008 for club record £19 million before that record was later broken that same summer by the £32.5 million arrival of Robinho from Real Madrid.
And one of the Brazilian pair's first matches with the Citizens was against a Portsmouth side filled with tall, physical players.
Speaking to ESPN Brasil, Jô said:
Jô managed just one goal in 21 league appearances with City before moving to Everton on loan where his goal tally reached five in 27.
Jô joined City in 2008 for club record £19 million before that record was later broken that same summer by the £32.5 million arrival of Robinho from Real Madrid.
And one of the Brazilian pair's first matches with the Citizens was against a Portsmouth side filled with tall, physical players.
Speaking to ESPN Brasil, Jô said:
In Robinho's game against Portsmouth in 2008 I scored my first goal with Manchester City’s shirt, but this game had a really funny story before.
We were in the tunnel and Robinho saw some of theirs players: Sylvain Distin, who was 1.93m, Sol Campbell, who was 1.88m, Bouba Diop, was 1.95m, and Peter Crouch was 2.01m. A lot of giants against the tiny Brazilian guy.
Then Robinho looked at the guys and said to me, 'F***, Jô, are we going to play rugby? Look at the size of these guys!' I laughed and said: 'Robinho, welcome to the Premier League.'
He was terrified before the match, but everything ended up really well. We played fine and won 6-0. Robinho had a great start, scoring a goal and giving three assists. I also managed to score my first goal for City.
Thank God we were playing football. If we played rugby against those Portsmouth guys, we were screwed!
Jô managed just one goal in 21 league appearances with City before moving to Everton on loan where his goal tally reached five in 27.
