“I made 20 cents cleaning bricks. I only had 5 euros for groceries»- Corriere.it

Little by little Messias took over Milan, so much so that he won the Scudetto with the Rossoneri last May 22 in Reggio Emilia against Sassuolo. He scores five goals in 26 games and earns the ransom from Crotone to continue the adventure in Milan. An incredible story behind it.

When he plays in Eccellenza he prefers the certain salary of a messenger boy to the volatile one of a small Piedmontese club. Football at those levels is pure fun, not a real job. The job is different: transporting household appliances at home, for example. “It wasn’t easy at first. Many think that Europe is all about the good life, designer clothes and fancy cars. There were some difficult moments: once my wife and I went shopping for a week with only 5 euros in our pockets. I worked standing in the middle of the bricks that I had to clean and I earned 20 cents for every clean brick. It was really tough,” the winger told Champions League magazine.

This is how the Milan striker recalls his arrival in Italy. «Over time, I started making deliveries: we had a start time but no end of work. He started to hurt my back: it’s not easy to climb the stairs with a 150 kilo refrigerator on your back. Today I appreciate what I have. Many tell me that I am rich but I value every euro I spend because I know what it means to have no money », she concluded. And now she is waiting for the Euroderby and dreams of the final in Istanbul. He who in the Champions League has already been decisive on November 24, 2021. Coming off the bench against Atletico Madrid and a 1-0 goal to clear Wanda Metropolitano and keep Milan’s hopes of qualifying for the second round alive, a result that was not achieved.

Too often, and inappropriately, words like dreams or fairy tales or redemption are used in sport, but in this case they fit perfectly. And the story of Junior Messias – 31-year-old Brazilian striker from Ipatinga in Minas Gerais, married to Thamyrys (also a footballer) and father of Miguel and Emanuel – told by himself demonstrates it perfectly.