Mariano Verrina
03/06/2020 - 6:15
- Clarín.com
- sports
If there is something that you can remain calm, it is that it does not go unnoticed.
It shows on the court, it is clear with his statements and it also becomes evident now when the elevator is opened. Felipe Melo breaks in. A mole for which football was not a priority. It was much more than that. "It was football or soccer." And there it goes, with its armor loaded with stereotypes, with the certainty of being worshiped by its own and envied by strangers. With a style that does not deny. Quite the opposite.
- Do you feel identified with Argentine football?
- Yes, by the way of playing, of trying to leave the soul in the field. Brazilian football is different, it is samba, tiki-taka. That's why people say that I am almost an Argentine. But I am Brazilian and I love my country. I love how Argentines play and how they live football. And Argentines are not just kicks; The best player in history, which for me is Messi, does not kick.
"Do you have the account pending to play here?"
"I think about the present." All I know about the future is that I have little left to leave football. I don't know if two, three, four more years, but it happens quickly. Long ago I was a child who had the dream of being a soccer player and now, in a few years, I will be closing a beautiful career. Of course, Argentine football and Argentine fans are impressive, I see it on television, I watch videos on YouTube. The Argentinian fan makes you want to cry. I played in Turkish football and the fans there are as crazy as the Argentines.
x
"Were you close to playing in Boca or were they just rumors?"
—I'm a Boca fan, I always said it: I love the fan, everybody Boca, I have Boca idols. But it's hard to say if I'm going to play in Boca or if I'm going to leave Palmeiras. I have two more years of contract here, soon I will reach 150 games and, if I continue like this, it will be the club in which I have played the most in my career. Boca never called me anyone. I remember that when we won with Palmeiras in La Bombonera (Libertadores 2018), we started talking about the fact that I had to play in Boca, which was for Boca, but I never talked to anyone.
"Who are your Boca idols?"
—I remember Schiavi . I love how he played. Riquelme too. I had the opportunity to play against him when I was in Racing de Santander and Román in Villarreal. Also in a Brazil-Argentina. But Schiavi was terrible, very hard, very strong.
- By your way of playing you had to take care more in Europe than in South America?
—The referees break your eggs everywhere the same, here or in Europe. But they are different schools. In England you hit a kick, the fan says "Ooooooh" and the referee charges nothing. If you hit the same kick in Spain you get the red one. In Brazil, there are judges who let you follow and others who expel you. That is why I love Libertadores: there are some plays that if you play a Brazilian referee can be red and with an Argentinian you will not be charged.
"You praised Messi, is he the best in the world?"
-The best in history.
Felipe won 11 titles: 7 in the Galatasaray of Turkey, 2 with Cruzeiro, 1 in Palmeiras and the Confederations Cup with Brazil; In his 486 games he suffered 18 expulsions. (Emmanuel Fernández)
"More than Maradona and Pele?"
"I can't say anything about Pele because I didn't see him play." And from Maradona I have the memory of the 90 World Cup when they beat Brazil with the goal of Caniggia. People in Brazil also say that Zico is better than everyone, but the first time I saw him play was at his farewell, in the Maracana. So I can't say that Pele, Maradona or Zico are phenomena for me. I saw Messi play and it's amazing. More than Cristiano Ronaldo because Cristiano can make you 5 goals, but Messi makes those 5 goals and also makes them goals to his teammates, so he is more complete.
"How did it go when you had to mark it?"
"Messi is a unique player." When we played against him with the Brazilian national team, we said "we have to kick him once each, we have to rotate . " If it is not difficult, such a player there is no way to mark it. And I do not say to kick him to break it, but a tactical foul, to cut the rhythm, to disturb him.
Volta Redonda is known as the city of steel. To the southwest in the state of Rio de Janeiro, far from the landscapes that appear in tourist searches of the wonderful city.
There is no beach, there is no Christ the Redeemer or Sugar Loaf.
There, the National Steel Company, the largest iron and steel industry in Latin America, where José, Felipe's father, manufactured iron was laid.
He would come down from the favela at 6 in the morning, return at noon and then repeat the routine. Several days a week I decided to go to the factory also at night. "Actually I had to work only 6 hours because I was in contact with fire, with very hot steels, it was an unhealthy job," recalls Felipe. But he went double or triple day so that we would not lack anything ”.
- How was that childhood in the favela?
—I was born and grew up in the worst favela of Rio de Janeiro. My mother was always at home with us (they are three brothers) and my father worked all day. Of course I had no comforts but nothing was missing. Since childhood I dreamed of playing football and, if it did not arrive, I do not know what would have been of my life ... It was football or soccer. Sometimes I was going to train and on the way back I found that one of my friends had been shot. 95 percent of my favela friends don't exist anymore, they're dead. They chose another path and they no longer exist. The 5 percent that remained, managed to leave, managed to work and make his life.
"Was it difficult not to be tempted?"
"I've seen incredible things in the favela that I don't even talk about." I had a chance but I never wanted to get into drugs or have weapons. I preferred the other way. I remember that the bosses of drug trafficking in the favela told me "you have a future, I don't want to see you here anymore, if I see you again here I hit you in the head" . I preferred to work and not earn easy money.
See this post on Instagram
Depois de uma difficult vitória, time to relax at home in the company of um bom @ornellaiawinery #ousaduraNorelax #house #obrigadoJesus #seguimosfocado
A shared publication of Felipe (@felipemelo) on Oct 21, 2018 at 4:49 p.m. PDT
After an upward start in Brazilian football (Flamengo, Cruzeiro and Gremio), the kid from the favela arrived in Europe with just 20 years. At first he missed, he wanted to return to Brazil to be with his friends, to walk the neighborhood, to eat with his family. Over time and with money he realized that the football player's life allowed him a reverse path: to take his affections to the place where he was.
And football was marking his pulse: Mallorca, Racing de Santander, Almeria, Fiorentina, Juventus, Galatasaray, Inter Milan and since 2017 Palmeiras.
“You will get used to another life, it opens the map, you do things that you never imagined doing. They are steps that we take, if you go up the stairs you don't want to go down anymore ” . Each of his four children was born in a different country: one in Brazil, one in Spain, one in Italy and one in Turkey.
- On that ladder the most was to play a World Cup?
- The maximum is a World Cup (played in South Africa 2010) but bigger is still a conquest with the national team. For me, achieving a degree (Confederations Cup 2009) is the most important thing. Look, Messi still couldn't conquer anything with the National Team. And I think I would give three Champions for winning a Copa América , which is less than a Confederations Cup that I won.
- Was it hard for you to be marked as responsible for the elimination of Brazil in the World Cup in South Africa?
-Nothing nothing. People invent, they say anything, the fans insult me, I go to the courts and they tell me everything but in the end everyone wants to have me on their teams. I don't care what they say. I keep the pass to Robinho, who was one of the most beautiful in the World Cup, 95% of successful passes in the Cup, the most versatile player in the Cup ... In the end we had to lose and I don't have fault of nothing
The Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimura expels Felipe Melo in the quarterfinals of South Africa 2010 instance in which Brazil lost 2-1 to the Netherlands. AFP
"Do you feel that when you go out on the court, you become a character?"
"No, character no." Because for my character it is "you are not like that and you become something" . I am so. Within the field I am the same as outside. Of course I am much calmer, softer. Inside the field is my food. I do what I have to do to win because Palmeiras pays for the food in my house , as Juve, Inter, Galatasaray did. It is the least I have to do. Soccer is a job and the job has to be very serious, there is no time for jokes.
Bolsonaro, a premature and unconditional support
The greeting between Felipe Melo and the president of Brazil, Bolsonaro, in the celebrations of Palmeiras after obtaining the title of Brasileirao. EFE
—Many Brazilian soccer players supported Jair Bolsonaro's presidential campaign, why did you do it?
—I went out to support him before the campaign, much earlier, I was the first. Because I loved the way I had to handle the situation. Politics is one thing and football is another; I don't understand anything about politics but I saw that he was a boy who could improve the reality of my country. Today, thank God I have a friendship with him, we talk whenever he can and he is a boy who didn't change anything, he is still the same. I love how he does things. But if I won another candidate, I would want to change things in my country. What happens is that there are many people in Brazil who are dumb and then “if you are Bolsonaro you cannot play here or I attack you because you are from Bolsonaro” . No, I am from Brazil. I love Bolsonaro very much because he is the one who gives me hope.
"But what do you love about Bolsonaro?"
-Everything. The way he talks to the press, the way to be honest, is a boy who answers everything to you. And in Brazil we are not used to that, we are accustomed to the politically correct, to speak what they want to hear. I love that he is a transparent, correct, true boy.
- Do you think that their policies will help people with fewer resources, those who live in the slums like the one you grew up in?
—I think that what you are looking for is to diminish the bandits and the bandits are the ones who do the wrong things. I repeat, I have 95% of my friends who left because they were bandits. A boy who works against drug traffickers is someone who wants to improve the country, no doubt . I come from there and people outside think that in the favela they are all bandits. No, the vast majority are not bandits, they are people who have family, who work. But we have to fight corruption, corruption is everything.
Against Gymnastics, like a fan
Felipe Melo, in La Bombonera and in front of Wanchope Ábila, one of his favorites in Boca today. AP
"Are you aware of the definition of the Super League?"
—Yes, yes, we win with Boca, we win. I think Boca is going to beat Gymnastics at home and in the end Atlético Tucumán is going to tie with River and we win.
"You feel it as your own."
"Sure, I'm Boca fan." I always watch the games.
"Who do you like about this team?"
"I like the archer a lot, Andrada." Do you know who I like? A boy who didn't play in Brazil like now, Wanchope. I love. The Colombian too, the one who is very fast, I don't remember the name but it is fast-fast.
