Former Manchester United and French World Cup winning goalkeeper Fabien Barthez was one hell of a character in his playing days.
He arrived at Old Trafford in an attempt to fill the giant Peter Schmeichel shaped hole between the posts, after the disaster that was Mark Bosnich was finally given the boot, but while he did pull off the odd spectacular save on occasion (denying Didi Hamann at Anfield springs to mind) he will always be remembered by Premier League fans for his regular brain-farts.
Whether it was offering the ball to Thierry Henry on more than one occasion, or standing still like an eejit while appealing for offside as Paulo Di Canio bore down on goal, he left in 2004 with his reputation as a top goalkeeper damaged. Not that he'd care, of course.
Upon retiring in 2007, he opted against taking time out and relaxing as he threw himself fully into his other passion, motorsport.
Most footballers stick around the game in some aspect, or venture off into the business world, but very rarely do former professionals who played at the level Barthez did find a calling in another competitive arena. Barthez did, and he's still racing to this day.
In a recent interview with MUTV for a documentary on his life after football, Barthez explained what he's up to at the moment:
In 2013 he was crowned France's GT champion, and in 2014 he competed in Le Mans: 24 hours, now in 2015 he competes in races across many different categories, driving Ferraris and living out a second dream.
What other footballer can boast a second career as interesting as Barthez's?
He's some man. The only thing that would make his current situation better is if he had Laurent Blanc to kiss the top of his head before each race, although we understand that his former teammates is a bit busy at the moment.
