2024-04-14 08:42:36
Gilberto Silva, before the match with PAOK, planned for what seemed a foregone conclusion. For the goodbye. Yesterday was the moment of apotheosis and “thank you” to the Brazilian ace. His looming farewell to Panathinaikos was combined with something rare for him. By scoring a potentially decisive goal in the case of “first in the playoffs”. It is considered more than certain that the “invisible wall”, as it is still called in England, will not continue in the “cloverleaf”. Through his personal social networking page, he announced, albeit subtly, the fact: “Thank you to all the friends of Panathinaikos for the wonderful party they threw for me. They made me feel like a king.” However, his personal belongings are already at his home in Lagoa da Prata…
On October 7, the former leader of Seleção and Panathinaikos will turn 35. Most likely, he will blow out the candles being a member of his beloved Atlético Mineiro, through which he rose to prominence. The stations of his life were not many. The years in Belo Horizonte were difficult. He first played football in America Mineiro and then was promoted to Atlético Mineiro. Someday his hard work would pay off. Arsene Wenger joined him in Arsenal in 2002 and Gilberto fortified the center of the “gunners” for six years. But he could never love London’s dullness and the English language too! Until Panathinaikos was on his way, to offer him a lot of money and new challenges. His goals with the green, but also in general over the years, measured beans. He never had a good relationship with the nets, but neither with Greek, apart from a few phrases. However, he says goodbye to Greece with 120 matches (plus tomorrow’s) and six goals, if he doesn’t score in the final titles with AEK.
Charity
He doesn’t usually make openings with pointless waste. After all, he has a whole family to feed. And beyond that he does not forget to support the needy of his country, but also of England. In fact, he is the president of The Street League foundation and organizes games for the needy and homeless. However, he also invested in the adoption of a giant anteater that dominates the London Zoo. She says of him that he is “my slightly hairier brother”.
His daughters Isabella and Giovanna and second wife Zanaina are his best company. Not that he forgets his first love and their son in Brazil, but neither does his parents, who have pampered him. With his sisters Jane, Juskelia and Joelma he remains overprotective! He learned this from a young age, as he was forced to work in a construction factory and then in a sugar factory (earning $50 a month), due to his mother Mary Elizabeth’s health problem. Nizier’s father used to travel more than 100 kilometers every day, so that his wife could have dialysis, so the pillar of the house was the first-born Gilberto! Even if he had to temporarily cut the ball for about three years, in his adolescence.
He wanted a bouzouki
In moments of happiness, but also of tension, and if he is not visiting his good friend Clayton’s shop, he takes his guitar or mandolin, as another “Captain Corelli”, and pours out his woes. He would really like to learn bouzouki too, but he didn’t have time. But he tried, just as he tried to play the Panathinaikos anthem on the guitar! Absolute calm for him comes in the evenings just before bed, reading a book with a deeper social content, such as “Who moved my cheese”, which translates to “Who moved my cheese”. And since the reference to dishes, Silva is particularly moved by fish, chicken in a wood-fired oven and black beans, according to testimonies from England. Once, in England, for a short period of time he was accompanied by the famous model and compatriot Sasi Pandezh. Another thing the tabloids didn’t want…
And because dreams don’t stop, he wants to one day live on the farm and play football barefoot again, as he did as a kid: “I’d like to be on a horse all the time and have my family by my side.”
From the intense questioning to the apotheosis of OAKA
On June 16, it will be exactly three years since “El. Venizelos” erupted for the magnificent reception of Gilberto Silva by 2,000 friends of Panathinaikos. His relationship with Panathinaikos fans was, if nothing else, always honest and discreet. Understandably, in his first season, he heard different things, as the ever-demanding fans expected more. And they saw it in the next period, with the winning of the double and Silva revving up, in view of the World Cup in South Africa! This year, it all came down to him based on the team’s performance. Whenever the team worked harmoniously, the Brazilian stood out. Whenever the downhill came, it took them all along. However, he never provoked him, neither with his statements nor with his performance nor with his behavior. Gentleman and professional in everything, friends and opponents say about him. Antonis Antoniadis, in fact, took off his hat, being surprised by the gesture of the Brazilian bowing, as a sign of respect, whenever he met him…
Thodoris Linardos – Haris Dantsis
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