Tottenham Hotspur star Lucas Moura was invited by Globo Esporte to have a live chat with the Brazilian outlet on Friday.
Now back in training with Spurs, the 27-year-old has explained the precautions they’ve been taking following the Coronavirus break.
“We’ve been back since last week. We were training in separate groups, each group in one day. This week, we start training every day, but in separate groups of five players each time. In that scheme: no contact and keeping the distance,” Lucas Moura told Globo Esporte.
Moura has also explained how strange it feels to be training without the team.
“It’s very strange, a very unusual period that we’re living. We never imagined football without contact and training without competitiveness. We have tried to compensate in the physical part.”
The player was asked about the difference between Brazilian, French and English football, and has only praised the game played in the Premier League.
“I think the English is very different. It’s the most competitive football in the world. I think it stands out for the intensity of the game and the tactical discipline, which is very high. Englishmen by nature are very competitive. Whatever the training they do, they want to win. The game is always with maximum intensity. I suffered a lot in the beginning with the physical part. The first preseason was very difficult. I think that stands out for this, in addition to technical quality, of having many players from different countries who come to play here for the beauty of the league and the purchasing power of the clubs.”
Even though he has 35 caps for Brazil, he was never called up for a World Cup. He’s now spoken about his feelings regarding that.
“With everything that happened in those years, at the 2014 World Cup I had a lot of hope of being called up because I was having a good time at PSG. We think. Even last year, everything happened in the Champions League, three goals, everyone talks, but the national team doesn’t come. It crosses your mind at times: no coaches like me? Is no one looking at me? Did they leave me aside? I’m not going to lie that this happens in the player’s mind.
“When you’re in a place like the Premier League, playing at a club that is always fighting among the first ones, standing out, playing the Champions League final and you end up not being remembered, you get this fear of what else you have to do to be remembered?
“But at the same time I understand and respect the decision of each coach. I know you have a lot of options to choose from. I have to keep fighting. Today I’m a much more mature guy, I can deal with disappointments well. I have to do my best. The chance to fulfil the dream of playing a World Cup is not to be discouraged.”
Regarding the Coronavirus crisis in Brazil, which has already killed over 20,000 people, Moura says people must ‘learn’ something from the pandemic.
“I think we need to learn something. The greatest failure, and the loss of people, is not to learn anything from the pandemic. Especially the people in power, everyone who has this mission to guide the country. I’m very hopeful, I pray hard that everything will return to normal, that there will be no more deaths and that we can return to routine.”
And when asked about a return to São Paulo, Moura said: “You know I have that goal in my career. But I have things to achieve here, the club is growing a lot. With the arrival of Mourinho and after last season, we reached another level. I aim to be champion here. I really want to be a champion and mark my name in the history of the club. When I get determined to return to São Paulo, if the club want me, I’ll definitely go there.”
