Mira Sintra is a neighborhood located in the hills of Lisbon. Far from the sea, away from the city center and attached to humility as a way of life. Portuguese people who have lived there for generations coexist with second, third, and fourth generation immigrants from Africa on its steep streets. There are no problems. Well, the usual problems that many humble neighborhoods in many capitals of Western Europe may have.
Nelson Semedo was born there, one of the breakout footballers this season. Barcelona signed him in the summer and took him to Camp Nou. They paid 30 million to Benfica, which kept 5 million as a variable payment in case some complicated variables were met. Nelsinho, as he is known here, is an idol. And they hope he can come to the neighborhood for a few days. The people are waiting for him. The town loves him.
"He told me he had the option to go to Barça, but Manchester United and Madrid were also interested," says Manel Liz, a 27-year-old man married to a Spanish girl who was Semedo's teammate at Sintrense and then at Benfica. "But he didn't hesitate; if the Barça deal went forward, he would put it above everything else," Liz insists, currently a forward for 1º de Dezembro in the Portuguese Second B Division.
Everyone who knows Semedo speaks highly of him. And everyone repeats one concept: humility. "He is. Nelsinho is very humble." Bruno Baltazar, current coach of AEL Limassol in Cyprus and discoverer of Semedo when he played for Sintrense, repeats it. "He was still a youth player when I was an assistant coach to José Joao, a veteran coach who was already retired and was coaching the first team. I insisted that he promote him to the first team and let him play. But there was no real opportunity until the end of the season." It should be explained that Semedo started his career as an attacking midfielder and striker, although his excellent ability to read the game and his adaptability to any position eventually positioned him as a full-back, although everything has an explanation.
"Benfica came to sign us, me and Nelson," says Liz in a very calm tone. "We were in preseason and the club didn't want us." So the coach offered us to play the last minutes of a game that we were losing 3-0. He stood out. He played great as an attacking midfielder and left everyone speechless. What a way to play football in just fifteen minutes. He scored a couple of goals and had an assist, and the team didn't lose. He got the reward of staying in the B team, but with one condition: he would play as a full-back, as the group didn't have a player in that position. And you can see where he ended up," he recalls with a smile. And what about him? "They kept me without registration for six months."
Bruno Baltazar follows everything that his former players do. "Semedo knows what it took him to get there, and he will never change that way of being. He will be an idol at Barcelona in terms of football," he emphasizes. "They have taken a gem of a person," Fernanda says as she finishes smoking half a cigarette in one drag. She is the secretary of Sintrense, the one who knows everything about everyone. "He has given us great joy, and now we are all supporters of Barcelona," she concludes.
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