Can’t lie I find all this carry on with Newcastle a bit bizarre. They a big club who were regularly qualifying for the champions league in most of our lifetimes. It’s not some fairytale story they’re finally back at the San Siro ffs.
Bruno Guimarães: "I've never heard many footballers talk about this, but when I started playing on a real team, I thought I sucked. I used to get so worked up the night before football that I’d have stomach pains and start throwing up. I’d get a headache and a fever sometimes and wouldn’t be able to fall asleep. When I played, instead of playing free, I worried about messing up. Whenever I played a real game, it was like my heart was always beating faster. It was a psychological block.
Then, when I was 11 years old, I was playing in a random game in the sports hall, and I didn’t think anyone was watching. Of course, since I was playing for fun with my friends, I was a beast. I didn’t realise, but my coach, Mário Jorge, was watching from behind the bar with all the older guys. After the game, he walked out onto the court and he said, “Bruno, let me ask you a question. Why do you never play like this in a real game?”
I said, “I don’t know, Coach. I don’t feel comfortable. It's complicated.”
He said, “Listen, don’t worry about all that. Just play like it’s for fun, and see what happens.”
I had a conversation with my dad after that, and I told him the truth. I asked him to stop putting so much pressure on me when I played, because it was making me too tense. When it’s your hero pushing you, sometimes it’s too much. Thank God, my father took it really well, and from that day, everything changed.
When I played, I would tell myself, “Hey, it’s football. Just play like we’re using flip-flops for goals.”"