Adebayo Akinfenwa Stacks LFC Memorabilia After Scoring Against Heroes

A child-like spirit lies beneath Adebayo Akinfenwa’s burly frame.

Akinfenwa, better known as soccer’s strongest man, scored Wimbledon’s lone goal in its 2-1 loss to Liverpool on Monday in the third round of the FA Cup. After the hard-fought game, Akinfenwa, 32, reverted to the lifelong Liverpool fan he is, securing autographs, photos and a special piece of memorabilia from players on his favorite team, according to LiverpoolFC.com.

“I can’t put it into words — it’s a dream,” Akinfenwa said in a postgame news conference. “I’ve been a Liverpool supporter since I was 5 years old. To see the likes of Gerrard and (Martin) Skrtel and the whole of the Liverpool team and to score against them, it was written in the stars and I can’t put it into words.

“We watch these players every Saturday. These are players we look up to and who we aspire to be. Every single one of us are waiting there to get our shirt signed by them.

“I got myself a selfie with Mario Balotelli and Brendan Rodgers.”

Akinfenwa’s first-half goal created a giant-killing scenario, but Steven Gerrard’s second-half free-kick goal sealed the Reds’ progression to the fourth round and ended the Dons’ participation in this season’s tournament. However, securing a signed Gerrard jersey after the game helped ease Akinfenwa’s pain.

“I think he threw his first shirt in the changing room, so I was about to grab him, but he told me he had another one in the changing room for me,” Akinfenwa said. “Everybody knew. I put the word out — stay away from Stevie Gerrard’s shirt, because it’s mine. So hopefully he will sign it for me and it will be a good end to the day.”

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“For myself, it’s a good night,” Akinfenwa concluded. “We’re disappointed with the result, but it was a good night. You take the positives out of life and we can take the positives that we gave Liverpool a game and they knew they were in a game.”