Mario Gomez has revealed that he had a strong love for Barcelona when he was a kid.

The German striker admits that his boyhood idol was former PSG and Bolton Wanderers star Jay-Jay Okocha, but insists his favourite team was Barça because of their association with some of Brazil's best-ever players.

The VfL Wolfsburg attacker admits that Rómario was the main reason he turned his attention to the Catalan giants when his family came around to watch El Clásico matches back in the 1990s.

“Whenever Real Madrid and Barcelona faced off, all my uncles and cousins would come to our home," he recalled for The Players' Tribune.

“Raúl jerseys filled our living room, as well as the sounds of screaming and chanting for 90 minutes straight. My family were all Real Madrid fans, but, as I said, when it came to football, nobody could tell me what to do.

“So I decided to root for Barcelona. Part of it was to be different, but it part of it was also because I loved watching the Brazilian players: Ronaldinho, Rivaldo and my all-time favorite, Rómario.

“His name sounded like mine, and as a young boy, that was enough for me. But even more, I admired the lightness with which Romario moved inside the box — he was so nimble — and the space he was able to create for himself.

“I wanted to be Rómario. But as I got older, I realized that the type of striker that I wanted to be wasn't exactly the type of striker that I could be. I was bigger and stronger than a lot of the other boys, so I became more of a true number 9 on the pitch.

“Some boys had a talent for dribbling, but I had a talent for scoring. Whether it was with my left foot, my right foot, or my head, it's just what I was good at."