/** * https://gist.github.com/samthor/64b114e4a4f539915a95b91ffd340acc */ (function() { var check = document.createElement('script'); if (!('noModule' in check) && 'onbeforeload' in check) { var = false; document.addEventListener('beforeload', function(e) { if (e.target === check) { = true; } else if (!e.target.hasAttribute('nomodule') || !) { return; } e.preventDefault(); }, true); check.type = 'module'; check.src = '.'; document.head.appendChild(check); check.remove(); } }());

From almost quitting football to Ballon d'Or hope - Raphinha's rebirth

Balague banner

On his 18th birthday, Raphinha sat alone in his tiny room in Florianopolis, staring at his phone. No messages. No calls. No offers. Injured and out of the Avai U20 team, he was on the verge of giving up.

Football had been his escape from the favelas of Brazil's Porto Alegre, but now it felt like a dead end. His dream was slipping away and for the first time - although by no means the last - he wondered if he was chasing something that wasn't meant for him.

Then came the voice that changed everything. His mother, always his fiercest er, refused to let him quit. "If you stop now," she told him, "you'll have to live with this for the rest of your life. Are you ready for that">