Decisive in a dream title, Nestor makes peace with São Paulo fans – 09/25/2023 – Sport

Rodrigo Nestor, 23, has already experienced in his still brief career the effects of fans’ mood swings. Praised for his role in winning the 2021 Campeonato Paulista, he had low moments, just like São Paulo, and got used to being booed.

“I think they criticize me because I’ve reached a level that so many wanted to reach. Of course, no one likes to be booed. But it’s a giant team that’s in need of titles. Maybe they’ll choose me in times of difficulty. So, if the team doesn’t wins, it’s Nestor’s fault, it was because Nestor didn’t do it”, he stated, in an interview with ESPN, at the end of July.

Just two months later, he became the hero of the Morumbi club’s greatest achievement in 15 years. After a 1-0 victory in Rio de Janeiro, the tricolor team drew 1-1 with Flamengo and won the Copa do Brasil, their first national title since the 2008 Brazilian Championship.

The first game, at Maracanã, had its score defined by a precise cross from Nestor to Calleri. In the return match, at Morumbi, right after the goal scored by the opponent, Rodrigo caught a rebound outside the area and hit an equally accurate, strong shot into Rossi’s left corner.

“It would be difficult to go to the dressing room losing. I kicked the ball, screamed a lot, cried and went back to the middle of the field”, said the player, who shed tears again at referee Bráulio da Silva Machado’s final whistle.

“It was a real cry, of relief, of great joy. I was very happy. I thought before the game that I would cry and that it would be of joy. It was a cry from the heart. I am very pure. My energy is only for good things. And I am very happy,” he told ESPN.

The athlete still said he was “ecstatic” the day after winning. “I couldn’t take it all in. It feels like I’m living a dream, enjoying it too much. I think we deserved a moment like this.”

Rodrigo dedicated the decisive goal to his father, who was celebrating his birthday. And he remembered his grandfather, who closely followed his grandson’s steps and died in 2021, from Covid-19.

“I know he’s watching me from up there. My grandfather was an amazing person. It’s a shame he wasn’t able to watch me live in Morumbi. I’m sure it was his dream and mine too. But, as I said, I know that he is looking at me from above and is very proud”, he declared, highlighting that he wears Nestor on his back. “The name on the shirt is just to increase and glorify his name.”

The São Paulo native also showed gratitude to Fernando Diniz, who managed him at São Paulo in 2020. He knows the current coach of the Brazilian team well and hopes to find him again in the national team, in one of the next calls.

“I’m very grateful to Diniz, I learned a lot from him. I spent a year training there, when I came up from the junior ranks, and I really learned. It wasn’t for nothing that he made the national team. But, of course, it’s not enough to know the national coach. You you need to work day to day, win titles and stay on the radar”, he declared.

For now, the young man is satisfied with what he achieved on Sunday. He knows that the fans’ mood is volatile, but he also knows that those who booed him had to applaud him in the biggest tricolor triumph in more than a decade.

Without any regrets, when celebrating the decisive goal, he shouted to the audience present in the Morumbi stands: “I love you, b…! I love you, b…!”.