Lucas: My debt to futsal
Lucas Leiva has explained why he believes playing 'futsal' as a youngster in Brazil helped shape his career as one of the Barclays Premier League's finest defensive midfielders.
Like many professional footballers from his homeland, the No.21 started out by participating in the five-a-side indoor game in which a smaller ball with reduced bounce is used and goals are hockey-sized.
Due to its confined spaces, futsal helps develop technique, skill, control, passing and fitness - and Lucas feels it certainly had the desired effect on him.
"My first matches would have been as a four or five-year-old when we played futsal," he told the official Liverpool FC magazine.
"I played for a team called Estrela do Sul and I took part in that format until I was 12. I then moved to the grass but until then I only played futsal.
"It's different to the five-a-side game that is played here. For a start you use a smaller ball and I think playing that way helped develop my technique and control when I was a boy.
"It is still a very popular game in Brazil and Falcao [professional futsal player] is widely regarded as the best futsal player in the world."