At 35 years old, Nani has already left his mark on his return to Serie A. Signed on Friday after ending his contract with Orlandy City of the American MLS, the veteran Portuguese winger has helped Venezia salvage a valuable point against the Empoli (1-1) in their fight to stay in the ‘calcium’ elite after achieving promotion at the end of last season.
Just landed in the city of canals, Nani made his debut today when his coach, Paulo Zanetti, brought him on in the 72nd minute with the score 0-1 since Szymon Zurkowski advanced to Empoli in the 26th minute.
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It took Nani just a few seconds to make his mark on Venezia in a play that showed his quality and intelligence with his first two touches: he combined with Mattia Aramu and set up David Okereke for the equalizer.
“It’s a very good start, the team played a good game”, congratulated Nani. “I haven’t trained much with the team, I’m not currently in the best condition, but when you want to do things well it’s possible.”
Fighting to avoid relegation
Venezia remains in 17th place in Serie A, the one that marks permanence, with just two points ahead of Cagliari, who this afternoon visit José Mourinho’s Roma.
Nani is the first interested in Venezia avoiding relegation since he has signed until June and, in that case, his contract would be automatically renewed for one season.
Nani previously played a season in Serie A, 2017-2018, in the ranks of Lazio, where he arrived on loan from Valencia. In 2016 he was proclaimed champion of the European Championship with Portugal and in 2008 he won the Champions League with Manchester United scoring in the penalty shootout that decided the final against Chelsea.
Champion of the European Championship and the Champions
Emerging from the youth academy of Sporting de Portugal, where he had two other short spells later, Nani signed for United in 2007. He was at Old Trafford until 2015 and, in addition to the Champions League, he won the Premier Lesgue four times, the FA Cup twice, four the Community Shield and one the Club World Cup in 2008.
He then played for Fenerbahçe (2005-2006), Valencia (2016-2017), Lazio (2017-2018) and in 2019 he joined the ranks of Orlando City. Now he returns to Europe and in his debut he has already shown signs that he has not done it for tourism.