He was just one of millions of Brazilian kids. He played football in the street all day, and he dreamed of playing professionally even when his parents struggled to afford food. Bruno Guimaraes didn’t have it easy, but it’s not supposed to be.Speaking to The Players’ Tribune, Bruno said his mom and dad used to work many hours a day and still couldn’t afford food every time their boy was hungry after hours of chasing a football. His mother worked in a motorcycle shop, and his father drove a yellow taxi with a dispatch number 039 – the reason Bruno would wear the number 39 shirt at every team.”For me, 39 is special – no, it’s more than that. It’s magical. The number 39 gave me everything in life.”Bruno Guimarães will wear the number 39 for Newcastle as a tribute to who his father, who drives a taxi with the same number in Brazil ❤️ pic.twitter.com/gX36qThdmT— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) February 7, 2022 But the road to magic wasn’t magical. Numerous clubs in Rio de Janeiro rejected Bruno, but his mother reminded him that football and only football was his dream – and that he should never give up. So he remained focused until it paid off. He sometimes considered quitting and becoming a taxi driver, just like his old man. Like, the time when he was in the Audax academy, far away from home. He slept in a rough dorm along with other young footballers. One night he reached under his pillow to get his mobile phone – only to find a rat there. Who would have thought he’d be playing in the UEFA Champions League semi-final just three years later, having received the call from Juninho Pernambucano to join Olympique Lyonnais.Not long after the “rat incident”, he got his break with Brazilian top-tier team Athletico Paranaense. “That was the start of the most beautiful period of my life. A period that continues to this day. When I was sleeping with the rats, I didn’t really believe in myself. I did not expect any of this. I did not think that Athletico fans would be singing my name as one of their legends. I did not think that I would get a phone call from the great Juninho asking me to join Lyon. I did not think that I would wear the yellow shirt in a World Cup.”##NAJAVA_MECA_7059485##Bruno remembers the days he and his friends watched professional footballers like gods. After fulfilling his dream of playing in the English Premier League, the dynamic midfielder says he now knows better.”Now that I am older, I know that footballers are not gods. We are just people. We get nervous, just like anybody. We fail, just like anybody. But for me, football is still a magical game. My mother worked in a motorcycle shop. She suffered so that she could see her son fly, and now she is my biggest fan. My father drove a yellow taxi all day and all night, so that I could have a ham-and-cheese sandwich and a Guaravita. Now, when he walks on the street in Newcastle, halfway around the world, people stop him and ask for pictures. Here, he is famous. The legendary 039.”
