“IT LOOKED AS IF ALI DIA HAD NEVER PLAYED FOOTBALL - WE COULDN’T BELIEVE HE WAS ON THE PITCH”

The Norwegian striker remembers George Weah’s dubious ‘cousin’ at Saints, as well as Le God’s genius and falling out with Graeme Souness at Blackburn

- Interview Sean Cole

How did your move to Southampton come about in 1996?

Iwas scoring loads of goals in Norway and I went to Southampton on trial for a few days. They liked what they saw. It was a dream come true: every week, you were playing against these massive teams that you've been hearing about since you were a kid. New grounds, big crowds - it was brilliant.

In your third game, you starred in an incredible 6-3 win over Manchester United. How did it get to 6-3?!

The circumstances were very good for us to get a result. It was United's worst period of that season, even though they later became champions. They had lost heavily to Newcastle the week before and Roy Keane was sent off early on. Things were going in our favour. But you don't expect to beat Man United, and certainly not comfortably. It was unreal, but it gave me bags of confidence and confirmed to myself that I could do all right in that league.

Why doesn’t the Premier League credit you with a hat-trick in that win?

For my third goal, I went around Peter Schmeichel and passed the ball into the empty net. Phil Neville was sliding in to stop the goal and he touched the ball just before it went in. For some strange reason, they decided it was an own goal, so I think I'm only credited with two. But I still have the matchball, so, for me, it'll be three goals no matter what. I got my goal bonus as well. Maybe Alex Ferguson had a word with the committee because he didn’t like someone scoring a hat-trick against his team!

How important was Matt Le Tissier to that Southampton team?