The Brazilian twins at Old Trafford on growing up in Rio, getting married, setting fire to Anderson’s slippers and joking around with Senor Alex.

Tell us a bout your childhood? Did you grow up in Rio?
Rafael: Yeah, it was in Rio state but in a city one hour from Rio de Janeiro, Petropolis. I don’t remember everthing as a kid. Flying kites. But we played football from the start, since we were five years old. It wasn’t great neighbourhood you know, but it was normal, poor Rio neighbourhood, very different from here and football was the only thing we would do.

Are there any other footballers in your family?
Rafael: Our older brother, Luis Henrique used to play for Brescia in Italy. He lives here with us and with his wife but he went back to Brazil because they are going to have a child in a week. Our whole family lives here, Mum, Dad, and I have two sisters-in-law.

Fabio is already married..
Fabio: Yeah, I got married six months ago, I’m serious like that, I like being at home (Rafael shakes head and laughs), She’s called Barbara and is 17 years old. We got married so that she could come here.

Rafael: I’m less introverted than him, and it’s always been like that. Here I don’t go out but in Brazil I do.

How did you end up at Fluminense (the twins’ first club in Rio)?
Rafael: Yes. We always dreamed of playing for them. We were 11 when we went to live there at the club. I cried a lot but I got used to it after a while. It took time and initially it was difficult because we were very young. But after a year it was normal. We have a lot of friends from our time there, I like it here but it doesn’t compare to Brazil.

When did you find out that there were people (scouts) coming to watch your games?
Fabio: Three years ago, the coach of Fluminense called me and said that there was a coach from Man Utd that wanted to talk to us and I was very surprised. My God! But he said that it was just to meet us, not for us to play for them.

Were any other European clubs interested in you?
Fabio: Yeah, Arsenal and we also spoke to Real Madrid when we were playing for the national team.

Why did you choose Man Utd – or did Man Utd choose you?
Rafael: A little bit of both. They work very hard and everyone knows them. And Senor Alex always speaks well and is always very supportive of us. He really likes to know what people are like both on and off the field, the stance of a man. But we joke around and we speak.

So how is Ferguson, is he very strict?
Fabio: He jokes around with us.

How difficult was it playing with the stars at Man Utd when you arrived?
Rafael: The first time I felt strange going through the door with all the guys there….I felt very shy, really shy. But when we started training and getting to know them, it felt normal and the same as playing in Fluminense, it isn’t any different. Patrice Evra, Carlos Tevez and Park are always together. They’re never apart. Rio Ferdinand is a great friend of ours. He’s is the biggest joker of them all.

Do you see the other players off the field?
Rafael: Only the other Portuguese players, we’ve already had a barbecue here and at Nani’s house.

Who are the biggest jokers at the club?
Fabio: Rio and Patrice. Once, Anderson came to training in his slippers and they set fire to his slippers and tipped cream out all over them.

And the most serious?
Fabio: During training everyone is serious. But the most serious would be Paul Scholes.

Do you hope to play for Brazil in the future?
Fabio: Of course.

But Carlos Quieroz thinks differently doesn’t he?
Rafael: My aim is to play for Brazil but if that isn’t happening, I could play for Portugal.

Fabio: We have a Portuguese grandfather but my dream is to play for Brazil
Rafael: I’m just being honest.

What do you think about players that choose to play for Portugal, like Deco?
Rafael: I don’t have a problem with it. My issue is when Pepe says he is Portuguese. He is forgetting where he is from and his culture and heritage. It’s very important, you have to remember where you were born. My older brother was going to have children and decided to go back to Brazil and have the children there, among Brazilian.

So, then, do you miss home?
Fabio: We miss everything; the heat, the culture, the people, everyone talking with everyone, going to other people’s houses, the humour, playing football and volleyball on the beach.

Are you worried Brazil won’t qualify for the World Cup?
Rafael: No-one thinks like that in Brazil, we’ve never missed a World Cup, everyone wants to see Brazil play.
Fabio: There’s lot of pressure playing in Brazil. We reached the final in ’94, ’98, 2002, only in 2006 did we not reach the final and we were the best team. Going out in the quarter finals felt like we had been knocked out in the first round.

Rafael, having played in both the Champions League and the Premier League, which do you find harder?
Rafael: The Premier League. It’s stronger, quicker and has more talent. It has better teams who know how to play. I’m trying to improve defensively and I need to improve. But I like attacking far more.

You’re already quite famous; do you have any difficulty walking along the street and things like that?
Fabio: It’s funny because here in England, the people respect the players. Every players can walk around, the problem is when they think ‘ah I’m not going there because there’s going to be a lots of people’. No, if he’s just walking normally, no one will harass him. Of course, when we’re in the stadium they harass you but not in the shopping center.

What do you think of Robinho taking the bus to the Trafford Center?
Fabio: Well Brazilians are like that. ‘Do you want to go there?’ ‘Let’s take the bus then’. Come on. I doubt that people would stop and stare at him, they wouldn’t believe it was him. The English players wouldn’t do the same but yeah I’d take the bus too.