“It hurts a lot in my heart to see those children who say goodbye with a kiss from their father and tomorrow they do not know if they will still have a father. It is very difficult. And very unfair. I have spent many sleepless nights. Those people do not they are guilty of nothing”. These are the harsh words of Nelson Monte, who experienced the Russian invasion in the first person three weeks before signing for Almería, once FIFA released the records of those footballers who played in the Russian or Ukrainian league. Already installed in Almeria, he narrates his nightmare to leave the Ukraine, now with the aim of debuting with the red and white.
“I was in Turkey for preseason and we arrived in Ukraine tomorrow because the local league had a break due to low temperatures. At 1:00 p.m. the news came out that the championship was canceled for 30 days due to the invasion of Russia. We spoke with the coach to go to our countries for a week and he said yes, but he needed permission from the club. I could be in my country while all that lasted”, comments the defender, who signed with the UDA until next June, since lLegally Dnipro could claim it once their competition resumes.
“In the evening, at 9:00 p.m., the coach told me yes. The next day I could go to Portugal for a week. I no longer had time because that same night the bombs began to fall on Dnipro. He was asleep and a very loud noise woke me up. I didn’t know what was going on and went to the window to check. Then another bomb was heard. At that moment I thought: ‘this has already started’. I got into my car with two Spanish teammates and a Brazilian and started driving”, continues the Portuguese, who despite his 25 years, has already played 103 games in the highest category of Portugal.
“The president of the club called us during that journey so that we could go to sleep at his hotel that was inside a big city, but far from where we were already en route. We slept a little halfway to rest a little. I heard a very loud noise without understanding why, looking out the window, I had a tank in front of me. I felt very scared there. And also when we hit the road again”, says Nelson Monte, a week and a half after signing for the Almeria club. “We were driving 28 hours straight to get to the border with the road full of tanks and warplanes flying over us. I wanted to get to Poland through Lviv, but halfway through they sent us several messages telling us to turn around because that area was also being attacked.. We had to turn to go to Romania,” continues the center-back, who experienced the terror in the first person. “We felt very scared, planes passed over us when we were in the car and the sirens did not stop in the cities. We had to stop at checkpoints to see if we were Russian or Ukrainian. We were scared there because they had weapons, “he exposes.
Now he has brought out his human side by helping a Ukrainian family. “I talk almost every day with my teammates and ask them how they are. In addition, three days ago a club employee arrived with two daughters aged nine and ten at my house in Portugal because they had nowhere to go. I have welcomed them until the conflict ends. They are at home with my wife. This is like a movie. Children and women saying goodbye to men at the border without knowing if they would see each other again… It’s shocking. When I tell my family, I don’t even believe it”, says the defender, in good shape. “I was in Turkey for a month of pre-season. I’ll be ready soon because I only stopped for a week and a half and I also trained in Portugal, so I’ll be ready as soon as the coach wants”, concludes Monte, who was an under-19 and under-20 international with Portugal.
Almería’s new central defender signed for Benfica when he was just thirteen years old, coming from Río Ave, returning to the Vila do Conde club. With 20 springs he debuted in the highest category of Portugal in a match against Olhanense. In the 19-20 season he played European competition, playing the Europa League preview against Milan, although Río Ave was eliminated after the now Almería player missed a maximum penalty in the penalty shootout. With Dnipro he signed two years last summerplaying nine games with the Ukrainian team before the nightmare began.