Graeme Souness reveals what it was like when Goal! was filmed at Newcastle with actor who ‘couldn’t kick a ball’

Graeme Souness couldn’t quite believe the casting for 2005 cult football movie Goal!

The talkSPORT host was managing Newcastle when filming began, and didn’t think it would prove to be too much hassle.

The Goal! series ended up being a three-film franchise, following Santiago Munez’s rise from obscurity to the very top of the game, starting at Newcastle.

To fulfil the role, it would have made sense to land an actor who was at least reasonable at football, but Souness was stunned when the opposite turned out to be true.

Recalling the time when filming began, he told talkSPORT: “I remember the director turned up with this young fella. I think his name was Kuno Becker. 

“We went to St. James’ Park and I’m thinking, ‘He’s Mexican, he must be able to kick a ball’, he couldn’t kick it at all. 

“I had the only Mexican who had never kicked a ‘soccer ball’. He was beyond hopeless. So I think I instructed one of the youth team coaches to spend a few days with him just to get him to kick a ball properly.”

The film, which was made in collaboration with FIFA, went on to $27.6million at the box office, short of its $33m budget.

It still remains a cult hit to this day, though, and that may be down to some clever directing.

Souness recalled one moment where the crew were incredibly crafty, surprising everyone to join in with celebrations.

He remembered: “They were around the place, and I can remember when they were getting near the end of their period in the north east, we’d played a big game at home and we’d won. 

“We were all on the pitch celebrating and the crowd were delighted, they’d stayed until the end, then all of a sudden this guy runs on from left field and it’s the actor, celebrating with our players, so they were filming it in real time!”