It’s like a fairy tale! Three years ago he was playing in the fourth league, now the 30-year-old Messiah has shot AC Milan’s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League with a goal

AC Milan finally returned to the Champions League after several years of crisis. But it is not a successful return. Already on Wednesday, the end of the famous Milanese team in the European Cups this season could have been decided. Fortunately, an unexpected hero shone.

After four games in the Champions League, AC Milan had only a point, with third-placed Atlético Madrid three points better off. The match was therefore very crucial. Had the Spanish side won, they could have ended the Italian giant’s cup woes for the season.

But it didn’t. The Rossoneri won 1: 0, which means they are still in contention with one game to go in the group stage. In the group, only the sovereign Liverpool with 15 points is clear for promotion, the second Porto has 5 points, Milan and Atlético have 4 points each.

Meanwhile, the hopes for the cup spring were shot by the famous Italian team by the unexpected hero Junior Messiah. Until yesterday, apart from AC Milan fans and huge connoisseurs of Italian football, nobody had heard of such a player.

But now he is a star. All the more so when we look at his story. This is because he is a 30-year-old Brazilian footballer who until quite recently played in the fourth Italian league. In 2011, he migrated from Brazil to Italy in search of a better life and a dream.

In the 2016/17 and 2017/18 seasons he played for Chierri Calcio and AC Gozzano in Serie D, with the latter team he managed to be promoted to the third league. The latter is already fully professional, so Messiah became a professional footballer at the age of 27.

Until then, he made a living importing household appliances. Thus, promotion to the third league brought him closer to fulfilling his dream. But he may not have expected how far he would go.

After one season in the third league, he was scouted by Crotone, then in the second league, with whom he was even promoted to Serie A. Messiah was not a sharpshooter, but he left a very good impression.

He scored 6 goals and added 6 assists in the second league, and finished his first season among the elite with 9 goals and 4 assists. That was enough to get him a loan spell at the famous AC Milan, where he is more of a joker, but now he has claimed some real attention.

And his words? “It’s the most important and biggest moment in my career, but humility is important. I mustn’t be brought down by criticism, nor get excited by compliments. I dedicate my goal to my family and to all the people who believed in me,” the Italian hero let himself be heard.

On Wednesday, he made his debut in the famous Champions League and scored for the first time for the Rossoneri. Can he live up to the fairytale story and become a permanent AC Milan player?

Sources: Transfermarkt, Fabrizio Romano