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My brother was the one who really gave me the desire to follow in his footsteps. Also, it was really Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, the two Brazilian players, who also inspired me to a future in football.

I went to play in Brazil when I had just turned 18 and was the world's top junior player. I got to the airport, and no one knew who I was. I couldn't speak any Portuguese, and no one spoke English. Then someone said something that resembled 'tennis,' and I went with that.

I actually had a nickname as a player myself. When I played high school football in Texas, strong safety, they called me Choo Choo because they said I hit like a train.

When I came first to Dortmund, Jurgen Klopp said, 'Listen, Mkhitaryan, it's your family name - it's too long. So Henrikh, it's too long. Let's call you Micki. Are you okay?' I said, 'Okay, no problem.' And since that day, they started calling me Micki.

Growing up, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo were the players I looked up to - and Carlos Tevez when he was at the club.

Nobody ever calls me a soccer-playing writer, even though I play soccer and it's part of who I am.

I come from a family where soccer has always been very present. My uncles, my father and my brother were all players.

Mainly it's the parents who remember me. But the kids today, what they do is go and Google you. A lot of them turn up and they know everything about me. They say: 'You scored 346 goals' or 'You wore the No9 shirt for Liverpool.'

When it came to football there was a certain age where I realized that my future in football was being a grease spot on the side of some bigger player.

As a private person I think I am now totally different from Ruud van Nistelrooy the footballer.