With Pro Evolution Soccer 5 (PES) just round the corner, we caught up with the cover star and legend that is John Terry to see if he’s actually any good at games himself…

Being an international footie star is one thing, but how does it feel to be able to turn on a game and play as yourself?

It's great as a kid to think 'one day I'd love to be in that game' and now I've got the chance to be in these great games!

It's been said that you're an avid PES fan. What makes PES your game of choice?

I got into it a few years ago, we're talking five years ago now. It was available to the first team before me and all the lads used to play it in their hotel rooms and that got me involved. It just became like a competition, and once you come into the first team you have to learn to play it. Once I played that game - I've played other games - because I know the reality, it just felt like the real thing.
 
How much of a gamer are you, and when you do get a chance to play what games do you put in your console?

It's PES mainly. I had a big tournament at my house in the summer. About 20 of the players turned up and we spoke to Konami and they got us two big trophies made up. We had four plasma screens round for it, which was great. We started at about 12 'o clock and we finished at 9 'o clock. That was just continuous, the longest we've ever done!

We can tell you love PES, so how about telling us in your own words why it’s the best football game out there?

Pro Evo has been improving every year. It's just miles ahead of everyone else at the moment and it's a game that I know other teams, other players play. I would say they've got it spot on at the minute. They really have. The likeness of the players is first class, the gameplay is really good. It has got the skills - you know, where skilful players can do certain things, but others can't. You really feel as thought it's realistic, whereas some games you can score from the halfway line. This is not about that, it's about real football, as it is.