Matheus Cunha gave an interview to ‘The Times’ in which he explains that Ronaldinho is his role model, he admits that he had to go to the psychologist and assures that he does not see himself as a superhero but as a normal and very familiar person. The Brazilian of Wolverhampton He is happy, but he has had some very bad times.
“I always see Ronaldinho as the map of how to play. I won’t say we’re friends – that’s too big a word when you’re talking about your idol – but he’s an incredibly good guy and when I look at my phone and see something about Ronaldinho I start to get nervous… I say: ‘This is my idol and I know him!'” says the striker. If there’s one lesson he learns from Ronaldinho it’s that “whenever I go on the pitch, even if I’m under a lot of pressure, I remember that this is my dream.”
Although he seems happy, 18 months ago he became depressed and had to see a psychologist. “I was at Atlético Madrid and I wanted to go to the World Cup. I was under a lot of pressure. The media, the fans, everyone pushes you to be the guy they think you are.” But he got injured and Tite, then Brazil’s coach, did not call him up. “A day later I knew I needed help.”
“I wanted to run away and maybe be in Joao Pessoa (his hometown), Iceland or the Maldives, I don’t know. And after they didn’t call me, I saw my family depressed and I felt like I had no power, the normal power that I have to help them and make them happy.” So he would lie on the sofa, sometimes checking his phone and then putting it away. “You would go on social media and still be depressed because people had no heart,” he explains.
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“We are very young and we get a lot of money and of course people still look at you like you are a superhero. They don’t believe you are human. I changed the things I like to do. Now my priority is not football. I love going to dinner with my wife and playing with my son Levi, it’s the best thing for me. I’m just a son, I’m just a father, I’m just a husband. I’m just a man, not a superhero.”