‘Big soccer fan’ Joel Embiid makes a guest appearance at the Champions League final
The Sixers center was in London on Saturday to cheer on Real Madrid, one of his favorite clubs during the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium.
Joel Embiid is a massive soccer fan. So when Real Madrid, one of Embiid’s favorite clubs, made the Champions League final, of course the Sixers star was going to be there.
Embiid popped up on the pregame show of the CBS Sports broadcast ahead of the final at Wembley Stadium in London. The panel marveled at the 7-footer, and Jamie Carragher jumped on Micah Richards’ shoulders to try to match Embiid’s height.
“Growing up, I’ve always been a big soccer fan,” Embiid said. “I watched growing up. ... Watching the Galacticos, [Zinedine] Zidane, that era made me fall in love with them.”
Some might recall that Embiid is also an Arsenal fan. He made a guest appearance on the Men In Blazers podcast earlier this year and talked extensively about his Arsenal fandom, and it got another cameo mention on the panel, as Embiid shared that his first soccer jersey purchase was an Arsenal Thierry Henry jersey — while sitting next to Henry himself on the show.
CBS Sports showed a few clips of Embiid — who said on Men In Blazers that he loved soccer but was ultimately just too tall to play it professionally — doing a few soccer tricks, including juggling a basketball.
Embiid said he feels “much better” with his injured knee and face, which limited him in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against the Knicks.
The best interaction of the segment came when asked whether Real Madrid was Vinicius Junior or Jude Bellingham’s team, and Embiid evaded the question, saying soccer “is a team sport.” But Henry followed up asking if the Sixers were his team, or someone else’s team. Embiid’s response? “That’s my team,” earning a big laugh from the panel.
“But listen, you can’t win alone. Guys got to do their job, I’ve got to do my job, and if we all do our job at the same time, we’re going to wind up winning. I never look at it as if it’s my team. We all equally have the same job to do.”
But when the game’s on the line, Henry said, it’s his ball, right?
“I have to, I get paid the big bucks, I have to,” Embiid said. “I love it, I want it.”