If you could hold a conversation on the phone with anybody for 15 minutes, who would it be?
“My girlfriend. When you’ve had a long distance relationship, you talk a lot on the phone a lot. Sometimes I would spend hours talking with her on the phone or on Skype. Otherwise I’m not really a phone guy! “
If you could spend 15 minutes with anybody, dead or alive, who would you pick?
“Michael Jackson - I think it would have been amazing to have met him. If there was one concert I would have liked to have gone to, it would probably have been one of his, so to meet him would have been just great. There are a lot of people I would like to meet, but right now off the top of my head, I’d say Michael Jackson.”
If you could spend 15 minutes anywhere in the world where would you pick?
“Bora Bora! I’ve seen the photos of the place and it would be an absolute dream just to go there, it seems like a magical place!”
What has been the best 15 minutes of your life?
“That’s very tricky, but if we’re talking football, it would probably be the 15 minutes where I scored three goals against FC Twente in the first half of an Eredivisie league game. Those 15 minutes were pretty amazing. Otherwise, my whole life has been fantastic and I think even the moments that were not so good makes the other ones even better, so you enjoy every moment!”
What do you do 15 minutes before a match?
“When I come in from my warm-up I usually make sure all the rituals are done in the correct way. You know you have the rituals where you put the shin pads on and then you put the match shirt on last and then you tie your boots in a special way. It’s all these small details that need to be done and that gets you in the right mind-set that it’s time to get three points!”
What do you generally do during the 15 minutes of half-time?
“I just sit down and listen to what the manager has to say and relax. Usually I want to get the second- half started straight away - I always think that 15 minutes is a bit too long, I just want to get going again.”
What do you do during the 15 minutes after the game has finished?
“I normally have a shower and go around the changing rooms and joke a bit with the lads, because obviously we will have won – of course! Then after that I just go and meet my loved ones.”
Where could you be if you drove 15 minutes from your house?
“If I caught all the lights, I could probably be at the training ground, but then I have to be very lucky.”
If you had to watch 15 minutes of any film over and over again, which would it be?
“Probably ‘Scarface’ -it’s such a great movie.”
If you could wipe 15 minutes off history, which would you choose?
“I wouldn’t erase anything from my life, everything is a lesson.”
Andy Warhol once said that everybody is famous for 15 minutes. What has been your most famous 15 minutes so far?
“I think it would have to be scoring a hat-trick against Ajax – that was ridiculous! They say that Cristiano Ronaldo and I have one thing in common and that’s scoring a hat-trick against Ajax! Someone told me that and I thought it was great! Whatever happens in my career, I will always have had that beautiful day. ..”
