Best of Coentrao in 2020: “I am a retired player”

Fabio Coentrao He is not an ordinary footballer. His extravagances, his questioned professionalism, the jokes and memes that he arouses in everything around him make him different, special. At Real Madrid was capable of the best (remember the semifinals of Champions before him Bayern in 2014) and the worst (a last season in which the few games he played ended up suffocated). Now play in the Rio Ave, the team of his heart, but started 2020 inactive. It is hard to imagine what it must have cost him to take the form of a professional footballer after spending more than a year without playing football, pandemic and quarantine through …

“I am a retired player”, said on January 29 at the exit of Monsato Court after testifying in a trial for an attack on the Sporting Sports Complex a few months earlier. A few days later he recoiled: “I didn't say that, I'm looking for a team”. After those statements, Coentrao disappeared.

The Portuguese returned to show signs of life in August, when he left an enigmatic message on his profile Instagram, posted in a photo with his family: “The best thing God ever gave me. The second is yet to come”, he pointed out while accompanying the message with some soccer ball emojis. He had been linked to a possible return to football in the Paços Ferreira, but it was finally the Rio Ave, the club where he grew up and the last one he had played for, the one that gave him the last chance of his career.

When he was presented again with the Rio Ave, he again launched a message from his networks, ensuring that he wanted to show that he still had a lot of football left in his boots. “It was here that a journey began that led me to live an adventure of which I am proud. I stepped on the most famous stages, I experienced emotions that I never imagined I could experience. I shared Olympus with the football gods. I conquered what was unthinkable for a boy who one day left this city and this club. I came back … with the same passion that made me come back two years ago because I know I still have a lot to giver ”, declared the player, who was proud of everything he had achieved in his career, especially for his titles at Real Madrid.

Between hanging up the boots and putting them back on, 533 days passed. It was before the Farense in a game of lto Liga NOS in which he played 45 minutes, but since then he has not scratched the ball again. He was not called up in the next two games and then a muscle injury has kept him away. His last public statements were given to Or Jogo in an interview published in November. Regarding his time at Real Madrid, he was once again proud and boasted of being seven years in the white club: “I had a seven-year contract at Real Madrid and a renewal in between. That is not for everyone.” Pure Fabio.

Of course, the Portuguese media asked him about the relationship he had with Christian, his great protector and friend at Real Madrid. “I often tell my colleagues that I would like them to have the opportunity to work with him to see what Cristiano is like. He is a monster, as well as being a great friend and an excellent person. It is the best in the world”, concluded the left side.

Since that interview, Coentrao has made no public appearances in the media. A shame He is one of those players who whenever they speak they manage to have everyone's attention, even for reasons of football ‘freakiness’. And it is that in the fan's imagery there will always be the apocryphal article “72 hours with Coentrao before the derby” published in 2015 by GQ magazine. In it there were fictitious phrases put in the mouth of Portuguese as “How strange is Xabi Alonso (referring to Chicharito) “or”Call me for the return, mister (after playing against Athletic in the quarter-round of the Champions League) ”. They were a lie, but everyone who knows the figure of Coentrao could imagine the side saying them for real. An endearing character, of course. From AS we wish you, like everyone, a happy 2021.