EIn December 2015, at just 21 years old and with a rather small body, Reinildo signed with him Benfica as the latest promise of football Mozambique. However, three years later he headed to The Belenenses with the intention of making a name for himself in the Portuguese League that he had not been able to achieve with the Lisbon club, with which he would not make his debut in the first team. His story of overcoming comes full circle tonight in Of Lightwhere he returns fully established in the elite as a starting left-handed center back in the Atlético.
It was not as fast as the 35 kilometers per hour it reached in Balaids to abort a gallop of Iago Aspasbut Reinildo has managed in all this time from not serving for the Benfica reserve team to being the defender who wins the most duels at Atlético. Something only possible with the mental strength that makes him overcome any obstacle and with the determination to become the player he had promised his mother.
“His story is very interesting, he was in the B team and I called him several times to train with the first team. He was one of the last to arrive at Benfica and he had four other left backs. One who was a starter for the Portuguese national team 21, another who was a little younger, then Ricargo Mangas, who now plays for SpartaK Moscow and Nuno Tavares, the one from Lazio. And it’s curious because Reinildo is the one who has reached the highest level. wanting, to arrive, and the effort in his progress, allowed him to make his own path,” he recalls Rui VitoriaBenfica coach at the time.
An ambition without limits
Although he played several friendlies with the Lisbon club during pre-season trips to Germany and England, the truth is that Reinildo would not find a place even at Benfica B, with whom he would barely play a game before beginning his loans to the club. Fafe, Sporting da Covilha before Os Belenenses was his springboard to Lille. There he would win a League and a Super Cup while being chosen as the best full-back in the domestic championship and awakening the call of an Atlético that today shines a light on what Lisboa they could barely guess.
Reinildo: “There are no successes without sacrifice”
“I always found it very competitivevery intense y dynamic. He was not a player who would do something magical with the ball, but he was very functional, very competitive, rigorous and responsible. The problem was that we had five players there and he was the last one to arrive. Thanks to his mentality he achieved that process. I thought I could get there, but that journey is the result of his ambition and his kindness and interest in training. The great players are not only those who can, but also those who want,” says Rui Vitoria, a direct witness of a comeback that shows Reinildo’s unfailing character.
