Jorginho finally reveals who ‘taught’ him how to play football from his childhood as he eye EURO victory
The Euro 2020 star has been instrumental for Italy in their march to the final, where they will face off against England.
But it was the Chelsea star’s mum, who the playmaker credits for his epic rise.
“My mother played football so I learned a lot from her,” Jorginho revealed in 2013.
“She still plays today and understands a lot. She would take me to the beach with a ball and I would spend the whole afternoon doing technical work in the sand.”
Jorginho’s mother Maria Tereza Freitas wanted her son to be prepared for anything and everything in the game. She wanted him to be one step ahead of his opposition.
“I was raised to face problems,” he said — and there were plenty of them on his path to stardom.
But despite that preparation, Jorginho cannot have forecast his parents’ separation at the age of six.
From then on, Maria was both provider and trainer.
She would spend most of her day working as a cleaner to put food on the table and earn enough money to buy her son boots and a ball, while taking him to play for his local team Bruscão.
The bond between them was so strong that the memory of having to move 180 kilometres away from her and home at the age of 13 still upsets him today.
“If I talk about it, I feel a lump in my throat,” Jorginho, 29, said.
Jorginho continued: “I could not do anything,” he said. “I used five euros for mobile credit, bought hygiene products, which was 15 euros, and the rest was used online to talk to my family.
“It was like that for a year-and-a-half. “In the second year, I trained with the professionals and when I met the Brazilian goalkeeper Rafael Pinheiro, who is almost a brother to me, I told my story and he did not believe it.
“From there, he did not let me miss anything.”
From his early days at Verona, Jorginho earned himself the nickname ‘The Wolf of the Future’.
Prisciantelli told the MailOnline: “Everyone recognises the determination of a lion, to me he is a wolf.
“He works three times as hard on the pitch and harder than anyone else.
“Every night tears fell in that dark and sad room (with the priest). But I know that he never gave up.
“I bought some equipment to set up a small gym at the sports centre. He would arrive at dawn and keep going until we allowed him to leave.”
After a successful loan spell with Serie D side Sambonifacese, Jorginho returned to Verona and excelled, making his first-team debut as an 18-year-old in September 2011.
Now, Jorginho is a key player for both Chelsea and Italy and now close to win another Trophy with Italy as they take on England in the EURO 2020 final!