Alireza Beiranvand: Iran’s World Cup hero slept rough, worked as a street cleaner and defied his disapproving father to star in the World Cup
Iran's penalty-saving goalkeeper has a colourful past, including living homeless and washing cars before he made it as a professional footballer
WHEN Alireza Beiranvand leapt to his left and pushed away a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty, it inspired Iran to a 1-1 draw against the European champions.
Yet his own personal story - from literal rags to riches - is even more heartening.
Before Alireza, 25, hit the big time and proudly represented his country at the World Cup in Russia, he was sleeping rough after running away from home aged just 12-years-old.
He also took on jobs at a dressmaking factory, washed cars (his speciality was cleaning SUVs because of his height) before he got the opportunity to fulfil his footballing dreams.
But how did he get there?
Born in Sarabias, Lorestan, to a nomad family, little much was expected of him as a young boy. His first job was as a shepherd, tending to a flock of sheep on whatever grassy land his dad could find.
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In his spare time, he would play football with pals, as well well as a local game called Dal Paran - in which you have to throw stones long distances to win.
At 12, he started training with his local team where his passion for football began to take off.
He was a keen striker, but when the goalie of his side got injured he went between the sticks and showed a natural flair for keeping.
However, his father hated football and felt his son would be better served as a simple worker, providing for their family.
“My father didn’t like football at all and he asked me to work,” he told The Guardian.
“He even tore my clothes and gloves and I played with bare hands several times.”Upset with his father's attitude towards his chosen path, Alireza decided to run away from home and headed for Tehran, where the country's biggest clubs were.
Hopping on a bus after borrowing money from a family relative, he met Hossein Feiz - a football coach who managed a local team.
Feiz offered Alireza the opportunity to train with his team for the equivalent of £30, but the young goalkeeper didn't have the money to pay or a place to stay.
He slept rough by the Azadi Tower, a place where many homeless migrants congregated.
Alireza was offered a place to stay by a young salesman, but he turned it down and camped at the club he was training with.
“I slept by the club’s door and when I got up in the morning I noticed the coins that people had dropped for me,” he said.
“They had thought I was a beggar! Well, I had a delicious breakfast for the first time in a long while.”
After having a change of heart, Feiz waived Alireza's fee and asked the team's captain to put his protege up.
He worked in a dressmaking factory owned by a dad of another teammate and sometimes slept there overnight.
Then, Alireza took a job working in a local car wash, where he washed SUVs because he was able to reach over the roofs due to his tall frame.
One day, Iranian football legend Ali Daei was a customer - and knowing Alireza's footballing dreams, his co-workers pleaded with the young teen to talk to the sporting hero about his ambitions.
Alireza decided against approaching Daei, insisting he was ashamed to talk to the former Bayern Munich striker about his plight.
A Naft-e-Tehran coach took a shine to Alireza, and he soon moved to the Iranian club - who agreed to let him sleep in their prayer room for a period of time.
He took a job in a pizza shop, again so he could have somewhere to stay at night.
But that was also short-lived after his coach, who knew nothing about Alireza's part-time gig, came to buy pizza.
The shop owner forced the youth player to serve his coach, which the young man reluctantly did until leaving just a few days later.
Always on the lookout for a job that would also lend him a place to stay, he began to work as a street cleaner. Cleaning large parks, it was tough for Alireza to stay fit for matches.
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He was sacked by Naft-e-Tehran after training with another team and getting injured, so he went to Homa, where their manager was reluctant to give him a full-time contract.
It looked like his footballing aspirations were over and all his hard work was in vain.
But, as fate would have it, the Naft under-23 manager told him he could sign for them if he hadn't signed for anyone else.
Alireza jumped at the opportunity and began to shine.
Selected for the Iranian Under-23 side, he soon became Naft's number one.
In 2015, he became Iran's first choice goalkeeper, helping Team Melli qualify for World Cup 2018 by keeping 12 clean sheets during the qualifiers.
The world is now Alireza's oyster.