Benni McCarthy came off the Cape Flats and ended up with a Champions League winner's medal. That was in 2004, at FC Porto, with José Mourinho in the dugout.
The striker's career ran from 1997 to 2013. He started at Ajax Cape Town, moved to Ajax Amsterdam and won the Eredivisie there in 1998. Celta Vigo and Porto came next, then England with Blackburn Rovers and West Ham United, before he went home to finish at Orlando Pirates.
For South Africa he scored 31 goals in 80 caps, which still makes him the country's all-time top scorer. Years later he was back at a big club, this time in a tracksuit, as assistant coach to Erik ten Hag at Manchester United.
Benni McCarthy's goals on film
Tomorrow: number 29.
