UnitedNorge – En Manchester United-blogg

Det var litt bølger rundt Nani sin utelatelse fra VM-troppen, noe som raskt ble neddysset av alle parter. Spekulasjonene gikk heftig om at det var en uoverenstemmelse med Querioz. Portugal-sjefen letter på sløret og forteller for en ekstrem mental påkjennelse det var for Nani å måtte innse realitetene om at han ikke kunne spille VM-fotball. Så ekstrem at Nani faktisk truet med å ta livet av seg selv.

“He knew about it [the injury] immediately, it is just that his psychological reactions were extremely painful and complex,” fortalte Queiroz til Expresso. “When we went to get his first x-ray done, Nani, in an act of despair, grabbed the car’s stick shift and said: ‘If you take me there, I will jump out of the car right here on the highway.”

“He was determined. His passion and desire to represent Portugal had no limits. It was his World Cup, at the age of 22. He would ask me: ‘Coach, give me two days, two days and I will be fine’. He refused to accept that the fracture existed.”

Nani fikk skulderskaden etter en treningsøkt bare et par dager før laget dro til Sør-Afrika. Han dro likevel til Sør-Afrika, men avgjørelsen om å erstatte SuperNani var allerede tatt.

“The day after his injury, his substitution had already been decided. Identifying the fracture, there were no doubts, medically speaking. But the players are not exactly wrapping paper. ‘You broke your clavicle, you’re going home’ – that is not like that. There is also the athlete’s personality and character. One thing is the decision; another is the opportunity and the way how the information is transmitted.”