Nikão overcomes alcohol addiction and leads Athletico in the final against Atlético-MG

Almost five months after hiring Nikão in January 2015, Mario Celso Petraglia, president of Athletico, called businessman Carlos Roberto Carvalho with the intention of returning him. Although he is a friend of the agent, Petraglia did not spare him from his anger, which was demonstrated with profanity.

At 22, Nikão was heading towards an early end of his career and was more interested in bohemian life than in the countryside.

This Sunday (12), the attacking midfielder leads Athletico in the first game of the Brazil Cup decision against Atlético-MG, at 5:30 pm, in Belo Horizonte. Globo and SportTV broadcast the confrontation.

The invitation to defend the team from Paraná had already been unexpected, after the young athlete had played for more than ten clubs – among them Santos, Palmeiras and Atlético-MG – and left them without delivering what was expected of him. The nickname “Black Maradona”, which accompanied him during his adolescence, remained in the youth categories. And it was still at this stage that, at age 12, he began to drink alcoholic beverages.

“My relationship with alcohol started at age 12 and went on until I was 22. There came a time when I played games to support my drinking addiction. Wherever there was drink, I was there. I drank vodka, whiskey, beer, wine, champagne “, says Nikão.

In 2014, Atlético-MG gave it away free of charge to the modest Linense, from the interior of São Paulo, a team that fought against relegation to Serie A-2 of the Campeonato Paulista.

Despair gripped Nikão when he left Belo Horizonte for the city of Lins, in the interior of São Paulo. In a cramped hotel room, he told Wanilton Cézar Silva, known as Cezinha, that his career was at an end.

It was Cezinha who discovered Nikão in a small field on the outskirts of Montes Claros, in the north of Minas Gerais.

A soccer school teacher in the city, he insisted that Carlos Roberto take the boy to Mirassol, where the businessman built a training center to improve teenagers and transfer him to professional teams.

Nikão treats both Cezinha and Carlos Roberto as “father”. The player had only one contact with his biological father and, at the age of eight, he lost his mother to cancer.

At 16, it was his turn to be without his maternal grandmother, who raised him. And, at 18, said goodbye to his older brother, who could not resist an accident.

When she was still alive, grandmother Rita authorized Nikão to visit Cezinha’s house. Rita feared for the bad company and the future of her grandson, on the outskirts of Montes Claros.

“Nikao lived close to people walking the wrong way, in the drug trade, and I started calling Carlos Roberto. He said: ‘This boy is way above average, and I’m afraid he’ll get lost in Montes Claros'”, recalls Cezinha.

The distance between Montes Claros and Mirassol, in the interior of São Paulo, is almost 900 kilometers. In the first attempt to transfer him from the state, Nikão was 11 years old, and Carlos Roberto, who saw problems with the Guardianship Council, stipulated that he would only receive the boy from 14.

Afraid of losing a possible talent, Carlos Roberto bought a camcorder so that Cezinha could collect images of the boy with the ball. The businessman liked what he saw.

“I sent for him, immediately. Nikão arrived in Mirassol with his belly huge, full of worms”, recalls the businessman, who set up a house in the interior of São Paulo and hired a couple to take care of the boy.

Carlos Roberto’s family, with good financial conditions, hugged the boy.

“We went to a party, and a guy asked my employee to wait outside. I said that Nikão was my son, we got up and left”, says the businessman, who displays the Athletico shirt with the following message by the athlete: “To Carlos Roberto, a hug from his son Nikão”.

From Linense, Nikão went to Ceará, but couldn’t even complete the Series B of the Brazilian Nationals. Five rounds before the end of the championship, the board terminated his contract.

Carlos Roberto, then, sought out Petraglia, who had shown interest in the player since the youth teams. The top hat decided to answer his friend’s pleas. But he paid a dear price. The crowd mocked the hiring of Nikão, especially his biotype.

On January 14, 2015, Nikão posed for his first photo in the Athletico shirt weighing 92 kilos, eight more than ideal. “They had to hide the photo on the club’s website”, recalls Cezinha.

While the club’s main squad embarked on an excursion to Spain, the new reinforcement had to stay in Curitiba and follow a diet and exercise routine. In the early days, I wanted to leave the team.

“If you want to return to Mirassol, you have your home, your family, but you will need to work, perhaps, as a ball boy, since God gave you the gift to play football,” said Carlos Roberto.

Uninterested in physical training, Nikão began to be criticized internally. That’s when Petraglia asked Carlos Roberto to fetch the player. The entrepreneur, then, got in touch with Cezinha and begged her to land in Curitiba and give Nikão an ultimatum.

In the same week, Athletico’s reserve team would end its participation in the Paraná Championship against Nacional, from Rolândia. Carlos Roberto asked for one last chance for Petraglia, while Cezinha surrounded the athlete.

“Nikao was tired of that training routine, and they put him to play”, says Cezinha.

The team beat Nacional 5-0, the midfielder scored a goal and contributed with two assists. He ended that year of 2015 as Athletico’s assists leader in the elite of the Brazilian Nationals, a competition in which he had not played since 2012, when he wore the Ponte Preta shirt.

“For me, 2015 was a difficult year, but, at the same time, a sensational year for everything I experienced here at the club. A year in which I was able to give the answers everyone wanted.”

In Serie A 2022, if he wants to stay in Brazil, Nikão will be able to choose which shirt he will defend. Palmeiras is one of the possible destinations, and Petraglia tries to convince him of the renewal.

“His story is very beautiful because it is about recovery. Nikão became addicted to drinking, we were trying to help, but his wife [Izabela] was fundamental. She took care of it, showed the way to the church”, says Carlos Roberto.

The overweight player ended up becoming an important player in the growth of Athletico, champion of the 2018 Copa Sudamericana and Copa do Brasil 2019. This year, the team won again the Sudamericana, and Nikão was the champion title goal against Red Bull Bragantino.

Now, the mineiro intends to help the rubro-negro club to win its second Cup in Brazil. The final starts this Sunday and will have its game back next Wednesday (15) at 9.30 pm, in Curitiba.