“The one thing I remember is going to the stadium for our first game. Traffic stopped and we realized it was the opposition fans from Vasco jumping up, hitting the windows, threatening us. I couldn’t believe what I saw.

“Running out on the ground was another highlight.

Asensio's Screamer Vs FC Barcelona
Asensio's Screamer Vs FC Barcelona
In one of Real Madrid's most outstanding performances at the Camp Nou, Los Blancos beat FC Barcelona 3-1 in the Spanish Supercup. Real were leading 2-1 after Cristiano Ronaldo's 80th minute goal, but just before the final whistle, we sealed the win with this beautiful Marco Asensio strike.
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“We held our own against Vasco. We were very well coached and set up structured for the game. But technically and physically they were far superior. But we weren’t full time.

"Maybe A-League teams would’ve bridged that gap a bit.

“A couple of years later I trained with a Brazilian team for about five months. I realised then the physical preparedness and technical awareness.

“But for us, it kind of fell out of the blue sky into our laps. All of a sudden, go to Fiji and play a little Oceania tournament and you could be playing at Maracana Stadium against Manchester United.

"It was surreal.”

South trained at Fluminense’s ground. With 4000 fans able to be seated to watch, they had their own gym, tennis club, swimming pool.

“In Melbourne, we only used to train at night after work,” added Panopoulos.  “I remember Ange went over for the draw and he came back saying, ‘You guys have got no idea what we’re getting into here.’

“I remember it was a corner against Vasco and my mate Steve Iosifidis and I we were in the box and I was making sure we were marking up and turned  to Steve, ‘You got Edmundo?’ and he said “Yeah, you got Romario?’ because Romario was short.

“Just after the ball was cleared we kinda looked at each other as if to say, ‘Is this really happening?’. ‘Are we really saying this’. Surreal. We couldn't believe what we were saying.

“It was hard to come back to Australia...”

He did, but during the tournament, Panopoulos kept in touch with the girl he met out there.