Gleison BremerJuventus defender, spoke to Young Reporters about the Juventus club. Here are his statements, starting from his physical condition after the operation for the rupture of the cruciate ligament:
How are you?
“Good, good. Now the worst is over and I’m slowly recovering.”
Which Juventus player from the past would you speak to for advice?
“Good question. In the past I talked a lot with Chiellini, we would have been a nice couple. Later I will also ask him about the injury he also had and I would like to understand what he did to get back to his level”.
Who is the funniest companion?
“We are a good team, there are many of us. I’ll tell you one, Pinso, who is great, Gatti also makes you have fun.”
What do you feel when you take the field with the Juventus shirt?
“Now I’ve been out for almost two months and at night I sometimes dream about it. It’s a wonderful feeling. It’s a historic shirt that has won everything. It’s the strongest team in Italy, so it’s a unique emotion.”
What is the biggest fear you have before taking to the pitch?
“I’m not afraid, but I’m focused and I also do mental work to stay calm on the pitch. Fear, in my opinion, is normal, but every day in training you work technically and it disappears little by little and after 3/4 minutes of the start of the match you are calm and move more fluidly.”
How can he be supportive of his teammates even now that he’s out?
“I’ve been out for a while but we have a WhatsApp group and before each match I send them a nice message. Even when I’m at Continassa and doing therapy I talk to them.”
When did you learn to be a defender?
“When I started I was a midfielder, then I had a coach who put me in defense and little by little I trained and he explained to me that I could be a defender. And from then on I began my journey as a defender.”
What is your favorite Brazilian dish?
“Grilled meat is fundamental for us South Americans, but it cannot be exaggerated”.
What do you feel when you stop an opponent’s action?
“We who are defenders and make such a beautiful intervention are our duty and then you gain confidence and little by little during the match you grow as a personality and it is the best feeling for a defender.”
When you were little, how did you balance sport and school?
“In my opinion your parents also ask a lot of you at school and my parents were the same. It’s a difficult thing to reconcile but a day has 24 hours and you can do both things easily, if you do it well there’s no problem.”
What has changed on a physical and mental level since you joined Juventus?
“Good question, as I said: I have a coach who helps me on a mental level. The first year I arrived from Toro to Juve it was different, it is one of the most important clubs in the world and in Italy it is the first. So when you arrive here you have all eyes on you, and it’s normal for that to be the case, when you give a performance that isn’t at the top everyone criticizes you but if you work well mentally and physically there’s no problem, it comes by itself. So you have to be very focused on the mental level and that helps you.”
How difficult was it to leave Brazil?
When I arrived in Italy it was a bit of a difficult period, but I knew that everyone wants to come to Europe, especially for me as a defender, Italy is one of the best schools. I became who I am because I worked a lot and this helped me become who I am now.”
What did you dream of doing as a child?
“When I was a child my father was an amateur footballer, but he also tried to be a professional and didn’t succeed, that’s how I grew up. Listening to him, that love for football came from my parents.”
How important is it to adapt to different defensive styles?
“In my opinion that is an important thing. Every team is different from the other, so today’s football is modern football and is changing a lot. Before we just defended ourselves, now the defender must play well and must adapt. Train and adapt.”