Tottenham star Lucas Moura believes that he would have been a criminal if not for football.

Moura grew up in a very dangerous and impoverished area in Brazil.

And he has no illusions about how his life may have turned out, if he was not spotted as a young talent during those years.

"It was very difficult when I was young because there are problems with violence, gangs, guns, drugs - a criminal life," he said in an exclusive interview with the Evening Standard.

"I had friends that choose a criminal life. Some of them are in prison and some of them are dead. They chose the bad way.

"I played a lot of football in the street. My dream was to become a footballer - that's why I didn't go to the bad way. I always believed I could realise my dream and give another life to my family.

"My parents showed me the good way. The education I had with them and my dream to become a footballer never let me go off the path. It's impossible to imagine doing anything else because I always had in my head that I would be a footballer."