Junior Messias’ composure in his first season at AC Milan should come as no surprise despite the former delivery man’s remarkable rise from amateur football to the Champions League.
As recently as 2019, Brazilian Messias was plying his trade in Italy’s third-tier Serie C, a past in local leagues and a former job shifting fridges not that far behind him.
However, after making his debut for Crotone in Serie B in the August of that year the 30-year-old’s star has risen quickly, an impressive debut Serie A season the following campaign leading to a dream move to seven-time European champions Milan.
Down-to-earth Messias, who emigrated to Italy in 2011, could well find himself playing a part for the visit of Liverpool on Tuesday as the Rossoneri try to make it to the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time since 2013.