AS EVANILSON thawed his freezing hands in warm water in a small town in Slovakia, it hardly felt like a turning point in his career.
Yet it was in the unlikely setting of second-tier club Samorin that the Brazilian teenager would rediscover his love of football after the death of his mother.
And get back on the long and winding road that has led him to an FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester City on Sunday.
Evanilson, 25, still vividly recalls the shock to the system of leaving Rio giants Fluminense and arriving for a loan spell at their partner club in central Europe in January 2018.
The Cherries star told SunSport: “I left 40 degrees in Rio to go to minus-five. I had never seen snow before. It was very difficult to adapt.
“The first time I trained I couldn’t finish the session because I was too cold. I didn’t understand the importance of wearing gloves, so when I finished I put my hands in hot water because they were almost frozen.”
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Although Evanilson’s extremities were numb, inside he was feeling intense grief for the death of his mother, Madalena.
It had been hard enough to leave his home in the northern city of Fortaleza to join Fluminense’s academy when he was 13.
The striker, whose full name is Francisco Evanilson de Lima Barbosa, said: “The north of Brazil is a very isolated place compared to the action of Rio and Sao Paulo. I didn’t want to go but my dad insisted.”
Evanilson soon emerged as one of the club’s hottest talents. But after the sudden death of Madalena when he was 17, he had to be talked out of quitting football altogether.
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He said: “It affected me drastically. I was really close to my mum. I went back to Fortaleza and I didn’t want to go back to Rio and play.”
Evanilson’s family and the club persuaded him to return — and then to move thousands of miles to Slovakia.
He said: “I didn’t want to go to Samorin initially because my friends that came back to Brazil from there didn’t say too many good things about it. But my manager at the time said, ‘Look, it will transform your life as a professional player’.
“So then I thought the best solution was to go, after I got over the death of my mum.”
It helped Evanilson that Gustavo Leal, his former coach with Fluminense’s Under-17 team, was at Samorin, too, along with other young on-loan players.
Evanilson said: “There were three or four of us, so I wasn’t completely by myself. That was positive. Nobody could speak the language so we would stick together.
Between 40 degrees and -5 is perfect.
Evanilson
“I lived with two of the players and I think that saved me. We would take it in turns to clean, cook, wash-up, we would eat Brazilian food every day.
“It was a really rich experience for us all. I felt I really grew from there.
“It defined me as a footballer. I fell in love with the game again.”
Evanilson played just six times for Samorin, scoring three goals.
But what he learnt about the very different style of football in Europe and the physical challenge of playing against grown men would stand him in good stead.
On his return to Brazil, Evanilson scored 11 times as Fluminense won the U20 Rio state championship.
Art attack-er
By Dan King
AS a young child, Evanilson was a budding artist rather than a footballer.
But the influence of dad Valdenir and Cristiano Ronaldo led him to express himself on the pitch as well as on paper.
Evanilson said: “When I was young I preferred to paint and do other activities not to do with football.
“My dad was involved with football in Fortaleza and was pushing me.
“Ronaldo became my main inspiration because of his work ethic and technical ability. I would watch him on YouTube.”
But mum Madalena still continued to encourage his artistic flair.
He said: “I still have the drawings I used to do for my mother.”
Those sketches have been all the more precious to the 25-year-old since mum Madalena died when he was 17.
He also paid tribute to his wife Mariana for helping him through the trauma, saying: “She is vital to the person I am today. It’s not a case of a WAG — we met when I was 15 and a nobody.
“When my mother passed away, she embraced the situation, she made her house available so I could stay there. I appreciate she was there all the time.”
Now Evanilson and Mariana are parents themselves to daughter Maria Alice.
He said: “I do even more art now because of my daughter.
“She inspires me to paint. I will look at something, draw it and she will paint the drawing.”
Evanilson celebrates his family with body art in the form of tattoos.
On his right arm he marks three- year-old Maria Alice’s birth, while he remembers his late mother on his chest.
He added: “Nobody dies if the person is present in your heart — that’s what I have written there.”
After one false start in the first team, he started to live up to his nickname of Levanilson, after one of his idols, Polish superstar Robert Lewandowski.
So in 2020, when still only 20, Evanilson crossed the Atlantic again, this time to join Porto.
He was following in the footsteps of another striker from Fortaleza, Mario Jardel, who scored 169 goals in 175 games in a trophy-laden spell with the Portugal giants.
And another Brazil-born Porto legend, Pepe — then in his second spell at the club — took Evanilson under his wing.
SunSport used the international sign language for Pepe — smashing a fist into your palm, elbowing, kicking — to suggest to Evanilson that it was hard to believe that the notorious hard-man defender was really a big softie.
Evanilson laughed and said: “I was surprised, too! There is a side to him where he is kind and helpful but on the pitch it is a different story.
“Pepe was the best person in terms of guiding me where I wanted to go.
“He really embraced me and where I had come from because he was from Brazil as well.
“It was good to have that year where I had to work really hard and Pepe guided me through it.”
Evanilson fired Porto to the double in 2021-22 and was linked with a move to Manchester United.
But after enjoying the most prolific season of his career, with 25 goals in 2023-24, last summer he became Bournemouth’s club record signing for an initial £31.5million.
Why swap almost guaranteed Champions League football with Porto for a club that has never played in Europe?
Evanilson said: “I always dreamed about playing in the Premier League.
“I knew very little about Bournemouth but I’ve been so impressed since I arrived. The club gave me a really good presentation.
“l had offers from other clubs but the offer from Bournemouth inspired me the most.
“Even former team-mates at Porto are really impressed with the style of play. It suits me, that combination of the physicality and the high level of technique required.
“My next goal is to play in Europe. I want to play for Bournemouth in the Champions League. I am very optimistic we can do that.”
But the next challenge is to repeat November’s historic victory over City and earn an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
The forecast for Sunday afternoon on the South Coast is sunshine and 15°C, so ideal conditions for the boy from Brazil.
Evanilson said: “Between 40 degrees and -5 is perfect. I’m not training with gloves because the temperature has risen.”
But in the Slovakian snow Evanilson learnt about much more than appropriate clothing.
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Evanilson, a devout Catholic, said: “Nobody dies if the person is present in your heart.
“That’s how I feel about it. I always pray to her. My mum is always present.”
Even help you Pep
By Dan King
BRAZIL hotshot Evanilson wants to ruin Pep Guardiola’s season and “make history again”.
Bournemouth host Manchester City in Sunday’s FA Cup quarter-final after ending the champions’ 32-match unbeaten Prem run in November.
The Cup is now Guardiola’s only hope of a trophy this season.
But Cherries striker Evanilson, who scored in the 2-1 Vitality Stadium triumph, told SunSport: “We really showed who we are and that has inspired us to go for a good result on Sunday.
“If we work hard, we can beat them and make history again.”
That win was Bournemouth’s first victory over City at the 22nd attempt. Now the Cherries are aiming to reach the FA Cup semis for the first time in their history.
Evanilson, 25, added: “The November game was an amazing day for me — but it was more important for the club in breaking City’s unbeaten run.”
Evanilson made his name at Fluminense, who play their home games at the legendary Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro.
Now he has his sights set on helping the Cherries earn a semi-final next month at another world-famous venue in Wembley.
Evanilson explained: “When I was a boy in Rio, my dream was to play in the Maracana. It always inspired me.
“That dream came true and now I hope I can replicate that at Wembley. I know how important that stadium is for every player.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
