Noel Gallagher has claimed he was a lucky mascot for Italy during their successful FIFA World Cup campaign in 2006.
Discussing his memories of the tournament on BBC’s Football Focus programme, the former Oasis man revealed Azzurri player Alessandro Del Piero – a friend of Gallagher – believed he was a lucky charm for the side at the tournament.
The superstition started when Del Piero scored the second goal for Italy in a 2-0 win in the semi-final of the tournament against hosts Germany in Dortmund – and ran towards Gallagher to celebrate.
“I was sat beside his wife. His wife reckons he was coming over to blow kisses at her, but what’s actually happened is he’s seen me and his wife happened to be there,” Gallagher joked.
“He then gets it in his head that I’m his lucky mascot, so he said: ‘You’ll have to come to the final’. He made me wear the same clothes,” he added.
Italy went on to win the tournament, beating France 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Berlin in the final.
Gallagher also claimed that New Order‘s ‘World In Motion’ – released to coincide with the 1990 World Cup – wasn’t originally supposed to be a football song.
He said: “They didn’t write it specifically for that, I know for a fact it was just a song they had lying round and added a few words to.
“I don’t care what anybody says, the New Order song isn’t really a World Cup song.”
The full interview with Gallagher can be viewed on the BBC Sport website.
