Former Manchester United hero Rafael will have gained the respect of football fans worldwide after refusing to be paid his wages by French side Lyon while sidelined with a hamstring injury.
The Brazilian right-back became a huge favourite amongst the Old Trafford faithful during his seven-year spell at United but left the club to join Lyon last summer.
However, he was set back with a hamstring problem shortly after moving to France and missed five games as a result. But in an act of pure class, Rafael told the club he did not want to be paid while he was ruled out of action, and instead wanted to donate all of his wages to help children in hospital.
As revealed in French newspaper L'Equipe today, Rafael went directly to Lyon’s board and asked them to hold back his wages until he was passed fit again.
The board responded that it was actually illegal to do that, so instead Rafael chose to put his money to good use and donated his earnings to the club's charity, the 'OL Fondation'.
His money helped to pay for a robot that allows children in hospital to talk directly to players on matchdays, with Rafael saying: "I like to play and I like to be paid for doing that, but I wasn’t playing.
"I’m happy to have done that for the kids, but it was good for me too. It helped me."
What a man.
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