Nani’s childhood was marked by poverty and hunger. He lived with his mother and his eight siblings in a house whose floor had holes through which rats and lizards came in.
“Over time, rats and lizards became something normal for us. When you’re a child, it’s incredible what you can get used to”. But there was one thing he never managed to get used to: “The one thing you can never get used to is hunger”.
At the age of ten, Nani began asking for food alongside his brother Paulo Roberto in the more affluent areas of Lisbon. There, they received bread, soup, biscuits and a pizza he still remembers.
“If you’ve never known true hunger, you might think I’m exaggerating. But I can still taste that pizza”. Football ultimately became his way out of poverty.
Nani came to believe that God had chosen him to help his family by becoming a footballer.