Real Madrid’s central defender wrote in “The Players Tribune” about how to approach the Champions League final against Liverpool: “Play happily and without fear, as if you were flying a kite in the street.”
Eder Militao with an open heart. The Real Madrid player breaks the shield in which he keeps his feelings and writes what he feels, rather what he felt throughout his career from his inception until his arrival at the Santiago Bernabeu.
He wrote it in “The Players Tribune” sending the message to his “other person” with the title: “A Letter to My Child”.
“Who would have thought, Eder, that you would play the Champions League final with Real Madrid. I still don’t know the outcome of the match, but if you will allow me one more piece of advice: play happily and without fear, as if you were flying a kite in the street ”, this text by Militao for himself.
The boy who didn’t think football was for him…
The Real Madrid central defender remembers his start, saying: “I know you are the most introverted in your street, and perhaps the quietest kid in Sertazinho. And there is more: Although your father is a former footballer, I know that playing football is not very suitable for you, even though your father is Ex-football player, I know that playing football is not good for you.”
“Even your dad doesn’t know how to handle the ball at your feet. You even hear him say something that will stay with you forever and make you and your friends laugh: ‘I don’t know if he plays well,'” continues The Players’ Tribune.
Militao remembered that he was training with the ball at his feet, but that he struggled a lot. “You will cry a lot, Edir. No, no one will offend you, no one will bother you, or anything like that. In Kutia, in Barra Fonda or in Morumbi, the youth coaches will go to recognize your talent … But your heart will not be at peace This instability and insecurity has to do with how much you miss your parents,” he continued.
“You will cry a lot, Eder.”
He even thought about giving up, hanging up his shoes when he hadn’t even started. “There will be a day when you will think of giving up everything: you will no longer want to be a professional footballer, you will no longer want to be away from your friends and family. But then your mother will ask a question that only a person who knows you well can ask. : “Isn’t that what you want?”
“What the national team will bring you is a confirmation of the feeling that is already beginning to emerge in you,” said Militao, who admits that an invitation to play with the Canarinha youth categories made him change his mind and love the ball a little.
This is where his growth began, his arrival at Porto, his first Champions League matches and his landing at the Santiago Bernabeu.
“This kid who didn’t care about football would go into the plans of Real Madrid, the biggest club in the world… At the time of the move, I was about to sign another top-level team in world football. But when your dad talks to you about Real Madrid’s proposal, you will hear the voice of Crackle again,” he explains.
Yes, this kid who doesn’t care about football will be part of Real Madrid’s plans
Field shift
Despite his shyness, Militao is another player on the pitch. “You have no friends there. Your father or mother may be on the other side… You shocked them! And you grew up facing the attackers. Then everyone will know that Militao plays hard, but with loyalty, without being intimidated,” he comments in the message.
Now that boy who doesn’t know if he wants to play football is going to play in the Champions League final against Liverpool says that happily his mom asked this question that day: “Isn’t that what you want?” Well, yes, that was what young Militao wanted: to play football.
