Thursday April 22nd, 2004
Formula One champion Michael Schumacher and other soccer-loving drivers soon found themselves out of their depth when they took on Brazil's 1994 World Cup-winning veterans in a charity match.
The drivers' XI and Brazilian veterans drew 5-5 on Wednesday after trading a few players at halftime when Brazil were 5-1 up.
"It was pretty obvious after the first couple of minutes that we were in trouble," Ferrari's Schumacher told a news conference on Thursday.
"I said to some of our better players, like Fernando (Alonso), who likes attacking, that we might as well forget about that. Basically nobody likes to defend too much, but that's what we were going to be doing."
The match at Forli was in aid of the Ayrton Senna foundation. Sunday's San Marino Grand Prix marks the 10th anniversary of former champion Senna's death at Imola.
"In the first half I think it was better to just stop and watch them," said Renault's Italian driver Jarno Trulli. "It was amazing and they were joking with us. It was unbelievable to see how they played. Most of them don't even play anymore but they are unbelievably fit and strong."
"When I was a young child I wondered whether perhaps I could be a footballer," said Brazilian Felipe Massa, who drives for Sauber. "Now I have the answer."
Published at 16:37:24 GMT