DOHA – England’s hopes of lifting the World Cup might have been dashed but Manchester City duo Kyle Walker and John Stones did not want to leave Qatar completely empty-handed – hence they will be taking home a stray cat befriended by the team at their training base.

England came up short on Saturday against France, who clinched a gutsy 2-1 quarter-final win.

The cat, which Stones named Dave, was transported to a local veterinary clinic for tests and vaccinations and will spend four months in quarantine before he can be reunited with the City duo.

“He was just there one day, so we’ve just adopted him, me and Stonesy,” Walker told the Football Association’s official media channel. “Dave is welcome to the table... Some people really don’t like the cat, but I love him.”

Centre-back Stones added: “First day we got there... Dave pops out. Every night he sat there waiting for his food.”

“They’re still undecided as who’s having him but he’s going back,” said a woman tasked with taking Dave to the vet on Sunday, in a video posted by Rich McCarthy on Twitter.

Dave is not the only cat to have grabbed the media’s attention in Qatar. Before their quarter-final defeat by Croatia, Brazil’s press conference was interrupted by a cat that sat in view of the cameras next to the forward Vinicius Jr, before being thrown off the table by a team official.

Earlier during the group stage, France forward Randal Kolo Muani told a news conference that teammate Ousmane Dembele was not a feline lover.

He said: “Ousmane is scared of cats. There are cats strolling around and he’s scared of them. It makes everyone laugh.”
REUTERS