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Leighton Baines met one of his heroes in Miami – but admits almost none of the other England players knew who the bloke was.

Pop star Morrissey, ex-lead singer of The Smiths, was staying in the same Florida hotel as the Three Lions' squad during their preparations for the World Cup in Brazil.

And while avid music fan Baines' job involves having to perform in front of tens of thousands of people he admits his knees were knocking as he introduced himself, and is not sure whether Morrissey recognised him.

The Everton left-back said: “I had a chat with him. I was a bit nervous about going to speak to him to be honest. I wasn’t sure how it would be received.

“I don’t know (if he knew me) and, to be honest, I didn’t really ask. I was one of the few in the squad who actually knew who he was, which was disappointing enough. I was the only who went over.

“We kept it really brief. I had to get really geed up just to go over and say hello to him. I don’t think anyone else in the squad even recognised him.

“Oh, Gaz Nev (Roy Hodgson's assistant Gary Neville) did, but that was it. I knew he’d played the night before and that he had a couple of gigs coming up, so I mentioned those and he wished us good luck.”

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