Barcelona star Joao Cancelo has opened up about the loss of his mother, which affected him as a child. The 32-year-old has given a heartbreaking account of that event, and of suffering a robbery too, in which he had a knife pulled on him.
The on-loan Al-Hilal full-back is coming off a fine season at Barcelona, where he spent the second half of the year on loan, and will be hoping to make his mark at the World Cup with Portugal. Cancelo has voiced his desire to stay in Catalonia next season, and Barcelona are expected to negotiate with Al-Hilal for a permanent deal.
Cancelo tells story of armed robbery
Joao Cancelo in action for Barcelona
The former Manchester City full-back has had to fight his way to get to the top of the game though, and did so through no shortage of trauma. Speaking to Alta Definicao, Cancelo related the story of when he, his partner and two-year-old daughter suffered an armed robbery while he was playing at the Etihad in 2021. Marca quoted his answers.
“They had their backs to me, and I felt I had a chance to do something. Today I regret doing it, but I managed to punch him in the back of the head, on the nape of his neck. He fell forward, and the knife fell to the ground. I managed to kick the knife away, and suddenly another one came from behind and hit me on the head with an iron bar. This scar I have here, to this day, is a result of that; I got eight stitches and was knocked unconscious.”
“I fainted. And then, when I woke up… there was a knife pointed at my neck.”
Cancelo lost mother in car accident
Joao Cancelo with Barcelona
That was a second traumatic event, after he lost his mother in a car accident as a 19-year-old just making his way in the game. The accident occurred in Portugal, with Cancelo asleep when it began.
“It was in a matter of milliseconds that my life changed forever. I remember my mother’s last scream and my eight-year-old brother crying. I tried to lift the car to get my mother out, but I couldn’t. Lifting a car is impossible.”
Previously, he has commented that he considered retiring from football due to the impact it had on him. The Portuguese international is a popular figure at Barcelona, and his…
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