NFL star Travis Kelce has revealed he had “somebody playing Cupid” when his relationship with Taylor Swift began.

The Kansas City Chiefs player spoke about how he first met the pop superstar in a wide-ranging interview with the Wall Street Journal Magazine.

Earlier this year, Kelce revealed on his podcast with his brother Jason that he had failed to meet Swift when he attended her Eras Tour concert at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri, in July.

Recounting the aftermath, the 34-year-old told the magazine: “There were definitely people she knew that knew who I was, in her corner [who said]: ‘Yo! Did you know he was coming?’ I had somebody playing Cupid.”

Kelce, who plays as a tight end, added: “She told me exactly what was going on and how I got lucky enough to get her to reach out.”

He also revealed members of Swift’s family may have pointed the singer in his direction, saying: “She’ll probably hate me for saying this, but… when she came to Arrowhead [Kansas City Chiefs’ stadium], they gave her the big locker room as a dressing room, and her little cousins were taking pictures… in front of my locker.”

Kelce said by the time they met for their first date in New York they had already been talking so he knew they could have a “nice dinner” and felt “what goes from there will go from there”.

In the last few months, Swift, 33, has been spotted in the stands supporting the Chiefs on a number of occasions, sparking media speculation about their relationship.

They also both made a surprise appearance during Saturday Night Live’s season premiere last month with Kelce featuring at the end of a skit that poked fun at their romance.

Reflecting on the attention, he said: “I’ve never dealt with it… But at the same time, I’m not running away from any of it.

“The scrutiny she gets, how much she has a magnifying glass on her, every single day, paparazzi outside her house, outside every restaurant she goes to, after every flight she gets off, and she’s just living, enjoying life.

“When she acts like that, I better not be the one acting all strange.”

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In the interview, the NFL player praised his 12-time Grammy Award-winning girlfriend as “hilarious” and “a genius”, and noted that they share similar values.

He said: “Everybody knows I’m a family guy… Her team is her family.

“Her family does a lot of stuff in terms of the tour, the marketing, being around, so I think she has a lot of those values as well, which is right up my alley.”

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Kelce has given the interview as the deaths of two people and health-related illnesses have left Swift fans angry and disappointed during the three-day Rio de Janeiro leg of her Eras tour.

Gabriel Mongenot Santana Milhomem Santos, 25, a fan who had travelled from the country’s centre-west region to see Swift, was stabbed to death on a Copacabana beach about 3am on Monday, Rio’s police said in a statement.

It came after 23-year-old Ana Clara Benevides Machado fell ill during the singer’s first show in the city on Friday and died later that evening at a hospital.

Fans also reported fainting from extreme heat, being mugged or getting caught up in a police raid.

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