‘2021? COMPLETED IT, MATE’
On Sunday, July 11, Jorge Luiz Frello Filho awoke with a stir. Later that evening, he would either be part of English football’s greatest day for 55 years or, rather more preferably, Italy’s ultimate redemption, three years on from their first World Cup absence since 1958.
Despite the late evening kick-off, crowds gathered on Wembley Way from the early morning to be part of something special. By the time Italy’s bus had left Spurs’ training ground in Enfield at 5.30pm, led by their smartly besuited manager Roberto Mancini on the front seat, things had already got out of hand amid chaotic scenes of crowd unrest.
For the Azzurri players, however, all was calm. The players stuck to their pre-match diet of cheese – a playlist of good luck charm songs, like legendary ’90s power ballad Notti Magiche (‘Magical Nights’), Eros Ramazzotti’s Piu Bella Cosa (‘The Best Thing’) and quirky Euro-oddity Ma Quale Dieta? (‘But Which Diet?’) by Luca Il Sole di Notte – the last one brought to the party by Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne in his crucial role as squad DJ.
Amid the tremendous sense of camaraderie and butterflies ahead of Euro 2020’s delayed final, some 364 days later than originally planned, there was Jorginho. His earphones nestled in snugly, the calmest man on the coach was tuned into something different – the story of his own life. A story that, somehow, was about to get even more riveting…
HYP HOP
Since scooping the Champions League crown with Chelsea as part of the greatest season of his life, Jorginho listens to a motivational audio story tailored by his mentor Rafael Barreiros. Central to the meditation programme he’s undertaken since June, it covers everything from the midfielder’s childhood in Imbituba, a
