“From the womb of suffering, success is born.”
Bibi tells the story of his suffering during the beginning of his journey to professionalism abroad.
"When I was 18 years old, I traveled from Brazil to Lisbon on my own, and from there I will travel to Madeira in order to join Maritimo, and I only had 5 euros" 😪
"I had to choose between calling my mother to make sure I was okay, or buying food, and my choice was to buy a phone card to call her, I told her everything was fine."
"Then I entered a restaurant and asked one of the workers there if there was food. It was 6 am at the time."
“The worker told me there was already food, and I told him I had no money!”🧑🏻🍳
“The worker told me to eat, eat, I will give you this, don’t worry.”
"This situation I always remember. I don't know this man. He also doesn't know me. But he decided to help me. Portugal was always my first choice."
This happened in 2001, six years later, he moved from Maritimo to Porto to Real Madrid, and Pepe made his debut with Portugal, choosing to represent his adopted country rather than Brazil, the country of his birth. 🇵🇹🇧🇷