Throughout his sporting life Jefferson Sotaldo suffered from the fact that he stopped being tall when he was 160 centimeters • Teams feared, few believed, and doubts were always there • Now, after becoming the star of Santos, the 23-year-old hopes to give one more show - against Palmeiras in the final Libertadores Cup
Sotaldo after the goulash against Boca in the semi-finals
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For the first time since 2006, the Copa Libertadores final will be owned by an all-Brazilian.
Santos and Palmeiras, two rivals from Sao Paulo, will meet in Marcana - the football stronghold of Rio de Janeiro, for a game that is a showcase for the present and future of Salsa (Saturday, 22:00, Sport4).
Both teams have young players who led the Under-17 team to the 2019 World Cup - Gabriel and Ron on the side of Palmeiras, Kayo Georges and Sandry on the side of Santos - along with some veterans such as Palmeiras striker Louise Adriano, formerly in Shakhtar Donetsk and Milan.
In this final, it will be possible to see Brazilian talents of all ages and positions, those whose future is ahead of them and others about whom the past tells a lot.
This is an original Brazilian celebration, which is very difficult to get into if you did not grow up on Peugeot, Brigadiero and Caipirinha.
There are almost no foreign players on the rosters of both teams, so it is very surprising to find that the biggest star of this final is actually the smallest player who comes from the smallest place (in terms of football).
This player is Jefferson Sotaldo, a Santos midfielder who on a good day scratches 160 centimeters and holds Venezuela in his country of birth.
These are probably the two toughest starting points in South American football, but Sotaldo has succeeded in his unique way and tomorrow he will be able to record the record achievement of a Venezuelan footballer at the Copa Libertadores.
So far the record achievement of a team from the northern state of the southern continent is a quarter-final (achieved by four teams), and only in 2016 a player from Venezuela won the cup for the first time.
Alejandro Gera did it with the Colombian Atletico Nacional, but he does not even have the star-studded grain that 23-year-old Sotaldo scattered on the grass.
The connection with the oxidized hair and the amount of tattoos contributed in the ten Libertadores games two goals, including a miraculous one against Boca Juniors in the semi-finals, to which he added two cooks and dozens of moves that leave a gaping mouth.
This week it was announced that he will be one of the four finalists for the tournament player, and even that Venezuela is not a football country - everyone there is holding his fingers.
"I am very surprised by the support I receive from my country," he said in a pre-final interview, "it is important to me, I want to be an example to the children and make it clear to them that anything is possible in life."
It’s hard to think of anyone better suited for this role.
For not only did Sotaldo make his way in football as a Venezuelan from the Martico neighborhood of Caracas, one of the poorest and poorest in the country, he was also blessed with natural figures that made his journey difficult.
Like many good people before him, Sotaldo suffered from being below average.
Groups were afraid to take it, few believed in it, and doubts were always there.
The situation became absurd when he played for the senior team before playing for the junior team, where the coaches thought he was too small.
When he was called up, he was part of the young team that reached the World Cup final.
"From the first moment I heard that I was too short and that I could not be a footballer," said Sotaldo, who chose as his inspiration the great little players of our generation.
"I saw that Messi was able to get where he was despite his size, and I realized I could too."
When Sotaldo and his wife had two children, each chose one name.
The woman chose the daughter Rihanna, Jefferson chose the name Thiago Matteo - the combination of the names of Messi's two eldest sons.
"I adore him and see myself in him," he added.
But unlike Messi, Sotaldo's career progresses in small steps.
First led local Samura to three championships, from there moved to Chilean Huachipato and reached the Cup semi-finals with them, then jumped to Universidad de Chile - one of the two biggest, and in early 2019 was acquired by Brazilian Santos for three million euros.
Club president Jose Carlos Perez declared him "one of the best players in South America", and to bolster the claim he gave him the number 10 shirt.
Neymar is already in love
Some thought that this robe previously worn by Pele, Diego and Neymar would be big on the tiny Venezuelan, but in the meantime Sotaldo is doing her a favor.
Thanks to the performances he provided, groups around the world expressed great interest, and last August Sotaldo seemed to have found the next stop.
The club president has already announced that he has been sold to al-Hilal and played his last game at the club, but Sotaldo gave up the millions and chose to stay at Santos to march it to win the Libertadores.
He scored a critical goal in the quarter-finals, and after the goulash against Boca in the semi-finals he received a complimentary phone call from Neymar.
In 2011 the PSG star led Santos to her third and final win at the prestigious factory, and here, ten years later, there is again a star with the number 10 on her back that takes her there.
Sotaldo will not reach the levels of Neymar, and it is doubtful if he will make the leap to Europe at all, but in South America he is a huge star who has been around a lot.
He is kept in a cotton ball and therefore not a partner in the last league round, and the sponsor who will appear tomorrow on Santos' shirt has a direct connection to his work off the field.
The 23-year-old Venezuelan is a very high-level gamer, a Fortnite cannon, and the game shirt will proudly hang tomorrow on the successful computer game.
The shoe company that adopted the player has announced that it will produce special shoes for him ahead of the competition, and it is his name that adorns most of the headlines ahead of the all-Brazilian final.
"Obviously a win will be special for every player," Sotaldo said this week, "but for me even more. I'm number 10 in Santos, Venezuela, and no one believed me. I want the trophy for me, for the team, for the family and for the country."