MANCHESTER: As a child growing up without a father in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, Matheus Nunes had a couple of familiar figures to inspire him to a footballing dream and better life.

One was his mother, Catia, who combined raising and supporting her family with the odd appearance for a local team as a goalkeeper.

The other was Brazil and Barcelona icon Ronaldinho.

Both provided the “magic” that has now seen the Rio-born Nunes starring for Manchester City and Portugal, the country where he moved to as a youngster.

“My mum was my hero,” the 26-year-old told Arab News exclusively. “I learned from her — and she used to play football as well.

“She was a goalkeeper, trying to save my shots. It was just in Brazil, not professionally, but she played in friendlies, local games with friends — she was always playing,” he said.

“She was, what you call, a tomboy. She had about 12 cousins and, compared to her age, she was the only girl in their age group so she was always doing men’s stuff.

Nunes continued: “Football-wise, my first hero was Ronaldinho. I enjoyed everything about him.

“I watched all of his videos on YouTube when I was young. I don’t know how to describe it but, for me, if he’s not the best footballer of all time, he’s probably one of them.

“It was magical watching him. He was the guy who made me fall in love with football.”

So too, inevitably, did Cristiano Ronaldo, once Catia moved the family to Portugal and Nunes learned English and all about the Premier League from his Sunderland-supporting stepfather, John Greenman.

Long before the forward joined Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo starred at Lisbon side Sporting — a club Nunes would also later join — before successful spells at Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus.

When he was called up by Portugal for his international debut against Qatar in 2021, Nunes admitted being a bit star-struck when meeting Ronaldo, now 39 and still scoring goals for club and country.

“He’s incredible, a machine to be still playing now,” said Nunes. “I don’t know if I will ever be able to do that, but he’s just incredible.

“I’m not going to lie, I was a bit nervous when I first met Cristiano. But it wasn’t just him, but a lot of the big players I met when I first went to the national team. I had only played with them in video games before, so it was a great moment.

“My first gift when I was two was a football, so everything led to this. I didn’t try to be a professional in Brazil because I came to Portugal when I was very young,” Nunes said.

“But, after I arrived in Portugal, it was only then that I switched my mindset and said I am going to try to be a footballer here.

“That’s kind of why I chose Portugal as the country I wanted to play for, because Portugal opened doors for me to in terms of professional football.”

However, Nunes’ path to being a professional was far from easy and he combined playing for Portuguese fifth-tier side Ericeirense while working in a bakery.

His break came at Estoril in 2018, before Sporting signed him one season — and just six appearances — later.

Such was Nunes’ rise that, three years on, English side Wolverhampton Wanderers paid a club-record £38 million ($48 million) for him — and Manchester City followed with £47 million at the start of last season.

Nunes, though, has struggled for a starting spot and the chance to show his best form at the Etihad, despite lifting the Premier League and Club World Cup in his debut season.

While he has been given more opportunities — and impressed when played in a more favored attacking role — Nunes has had to help City fill holes due to their injury issues.

Deputising at full-back, he conceded a late penalty with a foul on Amad Diallo that allowed Manchester United to snatch a dramatic 2-1 comeback victory in the derby earlier this month.

That was one of nine defeats for City in their last 12 games — a disappointing run that has seen them drop down to seventh in the Premier League — leaving them 12 points behind leaders Liverpool, and in danger of missing out on the next stage of the Champions League.

With a home game against Everton on Boxing Day and trip to Leicester City on Sunday, boss Pep Guardiola will hope for a much-needed change of fortune to keep his side in contention for a top-four place.

Nunes himself is determined to make his mark in the best league in the world.

“In England you have the best players in the world, the best teams and the games are so intense,” he said.

“In Portugal there is a lot of quality as well, but here you can see every week it’s above the other leagues, and why you want to play here.

“It’s been tough because I haven’t got the minutes I wanted. But I want to play every week and you have to be ready if the manager calls you or not. I want to play, I want to win.”

CENTURION: South Africa will be eyeing a place in the World Test Championship final with an all-seam attack against Pakistan in the first test, starting Thursday.
The Proteas need to win one of its remaining two test matches in this WTC cycle to guarantee a place at the Lord’s final next year and captain Temba Bavuma believes expectations have risen in his team to do well in the two-test series.
“There’ll be pressure that comes with that,” Bavuma said. “But to be honest with you, we’re coming into the series to win the series 2-0. We understand that for us to do that, there’s certain things that we need to do as a team: keep things simple, keep doing the small things right, and allow the results to take care of itself.”
South Africa has included four fast bowlers in the lineup with Corbin Bosch, who consistently bowls above 140 kph, set to play his first test at his hometown.
Seasoned fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen will team up with Dane Paterson and Bosch to challenge Pakistan's batters on an expected pacey Centurion pitch where fast bowlers have a clear advantage over the last six years, picking up 227 wickets with spinners dismissing only 16 batters.
Heading into the tests, South Africa's top-order batters did struggle against Pakistan in a rare 3-0 ODI whitewash with Tony de Zorzi, Ryan Rickelton and Tristan Stubbs all failing to read the offspin bowling of Salman Ali Agha in the opening game of the series.
“Whether it’s easy, whether it’s hard, we’ve got to find a way to do it,” Bavuma said. “Whatever, I don’t know, trauma that was there ... guys will have to deal with it.”
Pakistan have long been struggling in test matches in South Africa, losing 12 and winning just two of the 15 test matches since it first toured the country in 1995. Pakistan's below-par show in South Africa includes its lowest test score of 49 at the Wanderers in 2013.
Pakistan are lying at No. 7 in the WTC points table and Aaqib Javed is its fourth head coach in this WTC cycle with Mickey Arthur and Mohammad Hafeez quitting after one series. Jason Gillespie resigned just two weeks before Thursday’s test.
Gillespie, who was hired by the Pakistan Cricket Board in April, had a horror start to his two-year contract when Bangladesh swept Pakistan in Pakistan 2-0 in the test series before England won the first test at Multan.
Gillespie was removed from the selection panel and Javed masterminded Pakistan’s back-to-back wins against England on two engineered spinning pitches where Noman Ali and Sajid Khan bagged 39 wickets.
But Pakistan has brought in only Noman Ali for the two-test series in South Africa and is still contemplating whether to follow South Africa and go with an all-out pace attack.
Shaheen Shah Afridi, who played in the preceding white-ball series in South Africa, has been surprisingly left out for the test matches.
Naseem Shah and Babar Azam return to the test fold after missing the last two home tests against England while selectors have recalled seamer Mohammad Abbas after three years with the left-arm seam option of Mir Hamza in the squad.
Abbas took 90 wickets in 25 test matches from 2017 to 21 before he ran out of selectors’ favor despite his consistent performances for Hampshire in England and in domestic first-class cricket.