We extend to metrizable locally compact groups Rosenthal's theorem describing those Banach spaces containing no copy of ℓ 1 . For that purpose, we transfer to general locally compact groups the notion of interpolation (I 0 ) set, which was defined by Hartman and Ryll-Nardzewsky [25] for locally compact abelian groups. Thus we prove that for every sequence {g n } n<ω in a locally compact group G, then either {g n } n<ω has a weak Cauchy subsequence or contains a subsequence that is an I 0 set. This result is subsequently applied to obtain sufficient conditions for the existence of Sidon sets in a locally compact group G, an old question that remains open since 1974 (see [32] and [20]). Finally, we show that every locally compact group strongly respects compactness extending thereby a result by Comfort, Trigos-Arrieta, and Wu [13], who established this property for abelian locally compact groups.