Champagne ice coolers and guitar serenades - life as Marta's room-mate

Former England defender Anita Asante played with legendary Brazil forward Marta at Swedish club Rosengard and they were room-mates between 2014 and 2017. They also played against each other in the United States. This season, Asante is writing columns for BBC Sport.

Marta is one of a kind. She is an icon and an inspiration to so many.

I read once that Vinicius Jr said Marta is to Brazil what Pele was. Brazilians absolutely adore her.

Perhaps she doesn't have the same status that she should have globally. The visibility for the women's game was not there during Marta's peak like it is now.

The mentality and ability to make sacrifices to stay at that highest level for so long, like she has, just encapsulates everything about Marta.

She has played in the American league for so long and not yet won the National Women's Soccer League Championship for example.

So how special would it be if she finally won it with Orlando Pride in Sunday's final (vs Washington Spirit, 01:00 GMT kick-off) before she retires - whenever that is? I hear her mum is watching her live for the first time too.

The first 'wow' moment I had was when I saw Marta play for Brazil against the United States in the 2007 Women’s World Cup semi-finals. She lit it up. Her playing style blew everyone's minds because of the ingenuity she had with the ball and how clever and creative she was.

I will never forget the moment she flicked the ball around Tina Frimpong Ellertson and was dancing around the USA defence. It was like watching Ronaldinho in his heyday. It was Maradona-esque what she could do with the ball.

You were just thinking 'woah, this girl is something else'. It was the moment I understood the hype and why everyone was crazy about Marta.

'Only Marta could do that'

Anita Asante (left) with Marta (right) when they played together in Sweden

When I signed for Rosengard in Sweden in 2013, I couldn't believe I was going into a dressing room with Marta.

I remember one of our first team meetings and everyone spoke Swedish - including Marta. I was thinking 'not only is she a superstar on the pitch, she speaks Swedish as well as Portuguese, Spanish and English'. There was no end to that woman's talents.

The Swedish girls would sometimes tease her about her grammar. But we loved that about her. She had the freedom and confidence to express herself. She drew people to her and they wanted to engage with her. We would say she was the teacher's pet with our general manager because she could get away with anything.

She was my room-mate and our personalities were quite well-suited. It never really fazed me. I was just kind of like 'oh, Marta's my room-mate'.

There were similarities culturally and in our upbringing that connected us. There is a lot of Afro-Brazilian culture where she is from and I grew up in an African household. Our parents talk loud, there's always music being played, food everywhere and family in and out of the door. We could relate to each other.

My fondest memories of Marta were always team social gatherings. I remember her rocking up to a post-season party at one of the girls' flats with a champagne ice cooler. We were just like 'only Marta could do that'.

We were in Spain playing in the Champions League once and she wanted to go shopping. She kept asking to buy me stuff and I was like 'I'm fine!' She was always trying to make others happy.

She brought so much energy and charisma. When we won, she would always come into the changing room and start shaking her hips, dancing.

The thing that I always found funny was that she adored dogs and had a chihuahua in Sweden that she treated like a baby. I'm sure she had dog spa days in her flat. She would dance with the dog and it makes me laugh thinking about the juxtaposition of this fearless, mentality monster on the pitch, who is just a big softy off it.

That's the beauty of her. I got to know her quite well as my room-mate. We would travel a lot and she would watch Brazilian soaps. I would ask her what was happening and she would be talking about this whole love story going on. She would get so into the emotion of it all!

She was totally in her comfort zone. She always travelled with a guitar too and she would sing songs in Portuguese. I would sit there as she serenaded me. It was class.

'She didn’t act like a superstar'

Anita Asante and Marta celebrate with team-mates in Sweden

On the pitch and in training, there's a certain level of mental belief that Marta had. She's the one who took responsibility and wanted to create something. If she got tackled, you would see the desire to get back and win the ball.

That was her attitude. She had that edge. You could feel steam coming out of her ears if things weren't happening the way she wanted it to. She would drive the levels of the team with her body language and her unbelievable individual skill.

She has so much passion and is always so open. She would talk to me, tell me about her upbringing and the bigger responsibilities she had in her life. She really owned the fact she had this massive platform and used her voice so well.

She has been emotional and vulnerable in the public eye while calling for action. It takes a lot to do that - but especially being her. She always wants to do more.

Marta is such a humble person. She definitely has an aura - but she would never make anyone else feel she was higher than them. She didn't act like a superstar.

But there were moments where we realised we were sitting with a legend. You could be in a cafe or getting off a bus and people would come running up to her crying and hugging her. It was crazy to see the impact she had.

On a matchday fans would be screaming Marta's name. She had the adulation of so many young people who had heard stories about her or watched her live.

It is really hard to put that stardust into words. If I had to describe her, I would say she is passionate, humble and just a forever icon.

Anita Asante was speaking to BBC Sport's women's football news reporter Emma Sanders.