That smile of melancholy happiness is the image that remains after the happy ending fades away, in the film of Alex Sandro’s nine years at Juventus. An afternoon to remember against Monza ends as the script dictates: the last captain’s armband, the goal, the equaled record, the standing ovation, the tears, the celebrations. Two hours don’t fit in one sentence and we start from the bottom, from the Brazilian thrown into the air by his teammates on the Stadium lawn after the honorary “pasillo” that Juventus had reserved for him at the end of the match, honored by President Ferrero with his last shirt . Not the historic 12 but 327, the number of his matches played in black and white, foreign player with the highest number of appearances with the Juventus shirt, equaling the record of Pavel Nedved.
classmates
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“The most beautiful trophy that I carry with me is this love from everyone, everyone’s affection. The future? Nothing has been decided, but I will be happy with my next home,” says the Brazilian after the end-of-match celebrations. In the last frame the indistinguishable embrace of the team envelops him, which then dissolves into the individual and very distinguishable embraces of each of his teammates, because beyond the merits of the individual, another piece of the Juventus team that won everything goes away, and it almost seems they want to touch it like an amulet to see if they can take away something of those seasons, to return to experience them again. “In this last season I saw all players with the desire to win and improve, we were so angry at the negative results and this is good, it makes us grow: I’m sure that the next seasons will be better. With the Italian Cup a cycle began for a group in which many had not yet won.”
the band and the cup
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His friend Danilo had given him the armband to play his last match as captain. He put it back on his arm after the final whistle, entrusting him with the Italian Cup to raise to the sky of the Stadium to carry it on parade for the last lap of the pitch, after the one experienced already after the substitution a quarter of an hour from the end, to dry with photos, autographs and hugs, the tears of a few minutes before, when upon leaving the pitch he was made to melt by the standing ovation of his people, the embrace of his locker room and the end of a remarkable piece of life : “The trophies, the victories, the finals were wonderful, but what I really take with me are the people, the workers, from the warehouse workers to the security, the staff and the managers, all the love and respect that is experienced here: when they say that Juve is a big family, that’s what I feel”, he said on Dazn’s microphone.
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the goal and the thanks
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As in the films, a notable piece of the script with a happy ending was also the goal in the last match, the second to beat Monza and to water down an evening of celebration in a year in which there had been little to celebrate , in Alex Sandro’s last years at Juventus there was no shortage of difficulties even on an individual level, but it is beautiful and right that the taste that remains in the mouth is very sweet: “My heart will always be here, it will always have a space for all the people White black. They were emotional days, I had never cried as much in my life as I did this week.” And again: “This whole journey has been beautiful for me. I thank the fans, the city, the wonderful country that is Italy and all my teammates from the first year until now. I’m proud of myself and what I’ve done and I’m very happy for the beautiful story written together with all these people.” He was asked about one in particular: “It’s impossible to talk about my career without talking about Allegri, as well as being a coach I learned a lot from him as a person, I thank him for the trust he had in me, he was a special person in the my life”. Curtain.
