Eric Cantona was a fabulous footballer. The Frenchman had success with Auxerre, Marseille and Leeds but it was at Man United where he became a worldwide star.

Signed for £1.2 million in 1992, Cantona went on to score 82 goals in 185 games for the club. He won nine trophies in his five season spell at the club, including four Premier League titles.

A true legend of the game, Cantona was recognised for his exemplary career by being handed the UEFA President's Award in August 2019. Cantona being Cantona, the Frenchman collected his award wearing a flat cap, pink shirt and chinos. Everyone else at the ceremony was dressed in suits.

The Frenchman then gave one of the most bizarre acceptance speeches of all time. Asked what was going through his mind after picking up the award, he replied: “As flies to wanton boys we are for the gods, they kill us for their sport.

Man United legend, Eric Cantona

“Soon the science will not only be able to slow down the ageing of the cells, soon the science will fix the cells to the state and so we will become eternal. Only accidents, crimes, wars, will still kill us but unfortunately, crimes, wars, will multiply. I love football. Thank you.”

The whole room was perplexed by Cantona's speech. No one knew what was going on about and that was emphasised by the reactions of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Cantona finished speaking and there was silence in the room until a confused applause broke out.

It turns out that the speech was taken from Shakespeare's King Lear. “I didn't think about the speech, really,” Cantona explained the following month, per Man United's official website. I was reading in the morning an article about an exhibition in Paris on Francis Bacon, and I read that he used to like this sentence, from King Lear, Shakespeare. I started doing that.”

Why Cantona decided it would be appropriate to quote Shakespeare at that moment of time is anyone's guess. Never change, Eric.