Tokyo (AFP)
His titles are as numerous as his tattoos: at 38, the indefatigable and fantastic Brazilian right-back Dani Alves, who faces Mexico in the semi-finals of the Olympic tournament on Tuesday, hopes to add in Tokyo a 43rd trophy to his list, the most handsome of world football.
Called in to bring his experience to the young Auriverdes shoots, Alves arrived in Japan with the same freshness and emotion as his teammates.
"Even though I have had some great moments in my career, given that this is my first participation in the Olympics, I have butterflies in my stomach," he said at the start of the Games.
"To be here is really a special feeling. I am grateful for this opportunity. I hope I will be up to the competition and our national team," added the Brazilian.
Two matches now separate him from an Olympic gold medal, one of the few rewards that escape his hunting table, with the world title.
It's almost an anomaly.
In the endless list of his trophies, he lacks the most prestigious: the World Cup.
Winner with the Brazilian under-20s in 2003, Alves has never known the coronation with the A. Present during the 2010 and 2014 editions, a knee injury deprived him of a third participation in 2018.
- Raid at Barça -
But the Brazilian captain consoled himself a bit in 2019 with a second Copa America and a trophy for the best player in the competition.
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And a slew of club success: 23 titles with FC Barcelona, including three Champions Leagues, six Liga and four Copa del Rey, two UEFA Cups with Sevilla, twice Ligue 1, one Coupe de France and one Coupe de la Ligue with Paris SG, Serie A with Juventus.
Among other things ...
Back home, he won a new title last May, the paulista championship, with Sao Paulo FC.
Figures that make you dizzy for this kid from a poor family in Juazeiro (Bahia state), who at 10 got up at five in the morning to help his father in the fields, before going to school.
In Tokyo, the ever-green captain of the Olympic Seleçao played the 90 minutes of each group match, as well as the entire quarter-final against Egypt, which won 1-0.
A narrow victory, not really to the taste of this insatiable competitor.
"We could have won with a larger score, we have to concentrate more," he said.
Vigilance and responsiveness, he will need in his lane facing the onslaught of the Mexicans, 6-3 winners of the South Koreans in the quarterfinals.
Mexico had already outclassed France in the opening (4-1) and scored 14 goals in four matches.
Opposite, the Brazilians will rely on the efficiency of Richarlison, current top scorer of the tournament (5 goals), to deceive the experienced and charismatic goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa.
- "Solar madman"
The Seleçao will obviously also count on the energy and good humor diffused in the locker room by Dani Alves.
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On social networks, where he is very present, he distils positive thoughts and aphorisms.
"The end will only have meaning if the trip was worth it", likes to repeat the Brazilian captain about the Olympic adventure of his team.
We have also seen him in turn congratulate online the young skater Rayssa Leal, silver medalist in Tokyo, console the Brazilian women's football team, eliminated in the quarterfinals, or play the clown, perched on the shoulders of Richarlison in training.
"Dani is a madman, a sunny boy, who lives his life at 300 miles an hour, always with a smile", summed up his former partner at Juve Giorgio Chiellini one day.
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