Milan's Junior Messias on futsal's part in his rise

AC Milan midfielder Junior Messias charts out his movie-like struggle to reach the pinnacle of football – and how it all began with futsal.

If you were to ask a filmmaker to come up with an inspirational rags-to-riches story of a humble Brazilian who worked tirelessly to achieve his dream, it would probably still fall short of capturing the rollercoaster that took Junior Messias from playing futsal with friends to starring in the Champions League.

Like many youngsters in Brazil, the AC Milan midfielder began honing his talent in the small-sided game, playing futsal whenever he could. "In my town, we’d play virtually every weekend," he says.

"Because getting a few people together is easier than gathering 10 or 15. We had our famous five- minutes-or-two-goals-up matches. Things could get pretty wild. It was how we amused ourselves. It was a small town with only 5,000 people, so everybody knew each other and we got together to have some fun."

Like compatriots including Neymar and Ronaldinho before him, Messias was drawn to the pace and scale of the sport, which allowed everyone to be at the heart of the action in games with guaranteed excitement.

"The thing with futsal is that it’s fast-paced. Everything happens very fast. That’s where our rule of five minutes or two goals up came from. On a regular pitch with 22 players, it’d be hard to have a winner under such rules. That quick rotation between the teams ensured everyone had fun."

The 31-year-old played futsal in tournaments too, and at school – where he and his fellow pupils were reluctant to change into their kit for anything else. "We got angry when the PE teacher told us to play volleyball," he explains.

He credits his early grounding in futsal for teaching him to use the sole of his boot, an ability he embraces to this day as one of the most technically gifted footballers in Serie A. Watch him dribble past a defender with the ball seemingly glued to his feet and those years spent finessing his close control in futsal shine through.

So too his preference for stitching the play together with short passes, his nimble touches and extravagant flicks all surely refined in the cramped conditions of the futsal court. But while he set out to become a pro footballer with an impressive set of skills, getting to the top of the European game would require much more than raw talent.

"I never played for a club in Brazil, I didn’t grow up with a club and I didn't play for an academy, so I came to Europe to try and build a career," he says, recalling how he moved to Italy to join his brother in 2011. “When we got here, we tried to get my papers but we didn’t manage to. From that moment, football became an impossible dream.

"I was 20 years old, without a club, without any prospects of playing or getting the paperwork to become a legal immigrant. I had almost given up."

But Messias refused to concede defeat. He worked odd jobs like cleaning bricks or delivering appliances to make ends meet; playing the sport he loved became a mere hobby on the weekends.

"I made 20 cents for each brick I cleaned. Our hands and feet were freezing, and the rain was pouring down, but we had to carry on working to pay rent, buy food. My back started to hurt because it’s not easy to climb to the tenth floor carrying a 150kg fridge on your back."

Despite those strains, Messias found the energy to turn out for Sport Warique, an amateur side consisting mainly of Peruvian immigrants. It was here that his potential was spotted and the upward trajectory began, all the way from the fifth tier of Italian football in 2016 to the first in 2020. Then came his move from Crotone to Milan at the age of 30 in 2021, initially on loan, and the fairy tale has only continued since, including a winning goal on his Champions League debut and the Serie A title last season.

That Scudetto crown ended Milan’s 11-year wait for the trophy – 11 years after Messias himself had first moved to Italy. As personal triumphs go, it’s hard to imagine one more fitting. "Maybe one day I will make a movie or TV series or write a book and tell everything in detail because it’s God’s will," he says.

The first episode, no doubt, would be set on a futsal court, something in common with some of football’s biggest names, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Andrés Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Neymar – and now Messias.

This article is from the Futsal Champions League finals programme: Read for free now.