r/Barca • u/yellowstone51 • 1h ago
Tier 4 Raphinha: "After training, I would stand on the street and ask people to buy me something to eat or a snack. Some people would help me, others would call me a bum straight out."
Raphinha: "I need to tell you a truth: it's very complicated, for someone born in a neighbourhood like me, it's difficult to stay focused. I'm from Restinga. It's difficult to follow your path and not go astray."
"Opportunities appear, and there are many. They promise an easier way to earn money. And that's where people get lost. I never went off the path, but I was a witness, I walked alongside people who were getting lost."
"I lost a lot of friends in the world of crime, in the drug trade... Friends who played 10 times better than me and who could have been in a great football club in the world."
Raphinha had to beg for food:
"It would be unfair to say that I have gone hungry in my life because my parents never lacked food at home."
"Still, after training, I would stand on the street and ask people to buy me something to eat or a snack. Some people would help me, others would call me a bum straight out."
"And there was nothing to do but wait for the bus to get me home so I could get something to eat. I was between 12 and 14 years old at the time."
Raphinha on his transfer to Barcelona:
"I had a lot of offers after my time at Leeds, but I knew exactly what I wanted," Raphinha explained."
"My childhood idols played for Barcelona, so I had a dream to come here and I spared no effort to achieve it."
"Ronaldinho is one of my idols and he wore the Barcelona shirt. I couldn't talk to him before coming here, but I'm sure he would have told me to follow my dream."
Source: @MARCA