When Mesut Ozil got on the ball, it was like he cast a spell on the crowd as they watched on in awe.
Unfortunately for Troy Deeney and Nathan Ake, they found out the silky German midfielder had the same effect on opposition players.
Deeney and Ake came up against Ozil when Watford travelled to the Emirates Stadium for an FA Cup quarter-final against Arsenal in March 2016.
Given the swathe of talent in their team and the fact they were at home, Arsenal went into the contest as favourites.
Yet Deeney and his Watford teammates ‘felt confident’ they could get a result, although it wouldn’t be by playing pretty football.
“Our whole thing was to be nasty, horrible,” Deeney told talkSPORT.com.
“In those days, if you left it as a nice football match, you’d have got d***** because of Ozil.”
To combat the threat of Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and the other stars in Arsenal’s line-up, then-Hornets boss Quique Sanchez Flores opted for a 4-4-2 formation, which included four central midfielders.
Yet there was little anyone could do when Ozil began to weave his magic across the turf.
There was one moment in particular that will live long in the memory of Deeney, as Ozil pulled off a skill the former will ‘never forget’.
“I remember trying to chase back and help, this was at 0-0,” Deeney said.
“He (Ozil) cut back and then he nutmegged Nathan Ake and ran around him and crossed it.”
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After wriggling free of Ake with the deftest of touches, Ozil laid the ball back for Joel Campbell, who then set it in the path of Mohamed Elneny.
Much to Ozil’s frustration, Elneny’s effort just inside the 18-yard box flew over the bar.
As for Deeney, a video of the moment showed him simply standing there, utterly spellbound after Ozil’s skill.
“I remember in that moment going, ‘Oh my f****** god,’” Deeney said.
“As we were running back, Nathan Ake went to me, ‘Did that just happen?’ I was like, ‘Yep, that just happened.’
“It was one of the best skills I’ve ever seen. You know when it’s so childish, that you just forgot you’re playing in a quarter-final?”
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Despite Ozil’s brilliance, Watford managed to keep the contest scoreless going into half-time.
It was the visitors who took a surprise lead, courtesy of a Deeney assist and a tidy finish from Odion Ighalo in the 55th minute.
Deeney then bagged his second assist of the day 13 minutes later, this time for midfielder Adlene Guedioura.
The striker chested the ball down to his feet inside the box and held off Arsenal’s Per Metersacker before he spotted Guedioura, who had made a lung-bursting run to get forward.
Deeney obliged and laid it off to the Algerian, who unleashed what the Watford striker described as ‘the hardest shot I’ve ever seen’.
“It was one of those when you set him, ‘Don’t shoot, don’t shoot, oh f***, that went in,” Deeney said.
“It was a great goal.”
Danny Welbeck threatened to make things interesting when he pulled one back for Arsenal in the 88th minute but it proved to be nothing more than a consolation.
Despite the jubilation of a 2-1 win and a date at Wembley in the semi-final, there was still more to come that day for Deeney.
As he drove back home from the Emirates, he received a congratulatory phone call from none other than musical legend and honorary Watford life president Sir Elton John.
Receiving a phone call from the 78-year-old was, in Deeney’s words, ‘pretty f****** cool’.
“On your phone it says, ‘Maybe Los Angeles, maybe Beverley Hills,’” Deeney said.
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“I picked it up anyways because I didn’t know who it was. He was literally like, ‘Hi Troy, it’s Elton’. Just watched the game, wanted to say well done to you and the team, I thought you were excellent.’”
A phone call from John was certainly the dream way to cap off what Deeney described as a ‘mint day’.
