Kop stars reveal culinary passion

Liverpool and Tottenham are enjoying very different predicaments this season: one is savouring the prospect of a Premier League trophy, while the other is relishing the propsect of a Championship trophy next season.

Perhaps the reasons for these mixed fortunes are the manner in which the players spend their free time. While Jermain Defoe spends all his time away from the pitch making love to glamour models and David Bentley racks up six hours a day gushing compliments into a full size mirror, Liverpool’s spaniards are using their time constructively. Fernando Torres, Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina and Albert Riera have taken up Japanese cooking lessons:

“Most people expect footballers to relax playing golf or going to the races, but the boys love Japanese cooking. They find it very therapeutic.”

The friends are often joined by countryman Mikel Arteta, of the Reds’ arch rivals Everton.

They’ve learned to cook noodle dishes, sweet soy sauce marinades for meat, and sushi with raw fish and rice.

It’s pretty shocking to learn that some of the Premier League’s most pampered stars are actually willing to cook for themselves. Next they’ll be telling us that they book their own holidays or brush their own teeth…