“My nature is daring, I'm not afraid of losing the ball …”

Vinicius Junior (20 years old) is the main protagonist of an extensive report in the magazine Gaffer, in which the Real Madrid player reviews his current moment as well as his origins, his strengths, his pillars off the pitch. The Brazilian begins by remembering his debut as a Flamengo player. It was against Emelec in a Copa Libertadores match, in which he scored two goals. His celebration is always remembered (he put on sunglasses). The young player remembers it like this: “It is the best celebration of all time. The best celebrations will always be the ones where you run to the fans, but now we have yellow cards so we can't do it anymore. I don't even know how that moment happened, ”he continues to explain. “I just went to celebrate and someone in the crowd threw my glasses at me, so naturally I picked them up and put them on. It was all so weird, but it ended up looking good in the photo. So it was perfect. “

origins: “I remember the first day that my father took me to the Flamengo football school, I felt that he was the happiest person in the world for doing something that he loved the most. Back then, I was only concerned with playing soccer and having fun; surround myself with people who always believed in me and push me to do more. Today is no different. My worst habit is to think about football every day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It remains the same”.

Strength: “I would say that my greatest strength is always having a clear head. I never, never give up. I always stand strong in what I am convinced of. If you look at what 2020 has taught us, we have to take advantage of every day, every moment, since tomorrow is not promised. On and off the field. When the pandemic, nobody could believe it and we still can't. So, we have to enjoy each moment as if it were the last day of our lives ”.

Are you afraid not to take chances?: “That's how I am. My daring nature helps the team when we are losing or drawing. I am not afraid of losing the ball or of playing freely. I will always be like that so that people believe in me ”.

His family: “The greatest satisfaction is seeing my family and friends happy and proud of what I have been doing. My father did everything for me and my family. He was always there to defend us and to give us a better life. My goal is to continue down this path, improve and try to help as many people as possible ”.

The fight against racism in sport: “We have to continue the fight doing what we are doing. Hamilton, Lebron James or Neymar, people with a strong voice, always take the opportunity to talk about racism and it is important that that is so. We are going to continue fighting for equality, we must. To be honest, it's crazy that we still have to talk about this today. I hope children, the next generation, don't have to go through this. “

Childhood memories: “My happiest memory is the Flamengo league title in 2009, with Emperor Adriano. To be honest, I didn't like watching football before that, but when the Emperor came back it changed everything for me. I watched all the games that season, I clearly remember everything ”.