'Cigarettes and wine but one of the best pros I've ever seen'
- Published
Former Palace striker Clinton Morrison has been reminiscing on his unlikely friendship with former team-mate Attilio Lombardo on the latest episode of Kammy & Ben’s Proper Football Podcast.
Morrison and Lombardo spent 18 months together at Selhurst Park between 1997 and 1999, including a spell where the Italian was player-manager.
"Can you imagine me forging a great friendship with Attilio Lombardo?" Morrison remembered fondly. "It was crazy because he came over and, let me tell you something. He was one of the best pros I have ever seen.
"[He] came over late in his career and was the first one on the training pitch, last one off. He was just a great guy, a magnificent guy. I was from Wandsworth, but he lived near Wandsworth Bridge. If you go over the bridge, it's so posh over there - they got all the posh apartments.
"He lived in a posh apartment but on his way through to training, he'd just pick me up and used to give me lifts and stuff. He'd be driving into training and talking. His English wasn't the best, but he did understand [and] he had his interpreter in the back.
"He was such a great pro. I was teaching him English in a south London accent. We eventually got there!"
After arriving from Juventus in 1997, Lombardo became a cult hero at Selhurst Park, scoring eight teams in 44 appearances for the Eagles.
Morrison explained that he had a different approach to the way professional footballers operate now.
"He'd smoke a cigarette every day, two or three on the way to training and I'd be like, 'How are you one of the fittest guys I've ever seen?'" said Morrison.
"He'd always have a glass of wine the night before. But, he was fantastic and helped me a lot.
"We're still in contact now, really good friends. He was a genius. He's one of the best I've played with. He's such a great guy."