Rafael Guerreiro had dozens of excuses for not being Portuguese, but he lacked the strongest: an excuse that came from the depths of his soul. That’s why he let his heart carry him away.

When he needed to choose a shirt for his chest, he chose a Portuguese one.

“I have French and Portuguese passports, but my heart has always been beating for Portugal. I respect France, but I never thought that I would play for the French national team, ”he admitted to the Dortmund website.

After all, the defender was born in France, has a French mother, practically speaks only French, like his three brothers, it was in French society that he became a man, and in French football he became a player. After all, what ties you so strongly to Portugal?

“I have a strong French identity because I speak this language better than Portuguese. However, I definitely feel more Portuguese. When I was young, I was always rooting for Portugal. “

It’s one of those things that’s in your chest and it’s so hard to explain. This is called love.

Now, on the eve of Rafael Guerreiro, he will meet the Portuguese team for the third time – he played with Sporting in 2016 and Benfica in 2017, and also remained on the bench in another match with Benfica – Maysfuteball went on the Portuguese roots of the Portuguese. international.

First of all, it is important to say that Rafael Guerreiro’s family is from the Algarve. My grandfather had a grocery store in the Peña district of Faro, but a crisis forced him to emigrate to France in 1969 with his wife and four children: two girls and two boys. One of these children was Adelino Guerreiro.

He was 18 at the time and left behind his dream of becoming a Farense player. He went to work with his father for a soft drink company, married a French woman, Claudine, and also had four children: Celso, Miguel, Manuel and Raphael. He stayed in France forever.

By the way, like the whole family. Nobody returned to Portugal. Three uncles and grandmother still live in Paris, grandfather passed away several years ago.

For Rafael Guerreiro, his father Adelino and the Faro brothers, it has become just a place of rest. Every summer the family traveled to Ilha da Culatra, where my grandfather bought the house.

Even before the birth of Raphael, the family lived in the house of the sister of the grandmother of the Portuguese international in Faro, after which he went on vacation to Coulatra. And it was always a party.

“At home with my brothers, Portugal has always been very passionate. Every year we went on vacation by car near Faro, like a real Portuguese family. I would love to eat grilled fish, especially sardines, ”said Internationale. Parisian…

Rafael Guerreiro has been accustomed to spending summers in Portugal since childhood, and as a teenager, it was often seen how he teamed up with his family to participate in the Clube União Culatrense tournaments.

The father still comes to Portugal from time to time, and Rafael Guerreiro is very rare in Coulatra. Since football began to take over the summer months, he got rid of this habit.

The left-hander was born in Le Blanc-Mesnil, a suburb in the north of Paris, about ten kilometers from the Stade de France, where he will become the European champion. which Colegio Nelson Mandela, where he studied, had a protocol.

At the age of 12, the talent he had already shown allowed him to apply to the closed National Technical Center of Clairefontaine of the French Federation, where he developed until he was recruited to the Academy of Caen when he was 15 years old. 250 kilometers from home, the left-hander quickly became a player. So much so that at 18 he was already a first team player.

From here the story is known.

At the age of 20, he was hired by Llorient, was called by Rui Jorge to the U21 team and jumped to the main selection. At 22, he became European champion and signed a contract with Borussia Dortmund.

At Le Blanc-Mesnil and Faro, he left his family closer and farther away, respectively, always supporting him. Le Blanc-Mesnil, which, curiously, also has some of the Portuguese roots.

The village of 50,000 has a strong Portuguese community that was severely punished during the 2005 riots and Portuguese trade is commonplace. It is a suburb with a strong Portuguese brand of common people that will also have an impact on the left.

Rafael Guerreiro fell in love with Benfica under the influence of his father and the idol of Pauleta. He says the Azores striker’s posters still hang on the walls of his parents’ house. He became a reserved and humble person. The father devoted himself to his family: his wife Marion and children Sasha and Ana.

In the background is a Portuguese in France.

“I already knew the anthem before he joined the national team, as I watched a lot of Portugal games on TV. I learned the Marseillaise at school. But I feel more emotion when I sing the Portuguese national anthem. “

You will find yourself on the other side of the barricade tonight. Which is nothing new for him … but almost.