Diego Moreira is the man of the hour. He was the hero of the derby (without forgetting to give credit to the rest of the team) thanks to his two assists and beautiful freekick goal.
In this morning's print edition, La Gazzetta dello Sport dedicated space to the former Chelsea and Strasbourg talent, revealing five things to know about the Belgian player:
Breakdancing has been an obsession since childhood
With his talent, Diego Moreira seems to dance on the ball. Perhaps it is because, in his dribbles and changes of pace, he combines his two great sporting passions: football and dance. As he has often said: "I love breakdancing very much. I have been dancing since I was a child, I did it for a very long time, but then I had to choose between dancing and football. I think I made the right choice..." Milan fans absolutely agree; it was better to have bet everything on football. On the social media profile of “Diegzzyy”, the name by which Moreira is known on Instagram, where he is followed by over 650,000 followers, Diego reposted photos and videos set to music of his very latest performance. Music, indeed: "I listen to it at every moment of the day. When I go to training or to a match and also when I am at home alone."
Diego Moreira's connection with Alexis Saelemaekers
Rabiot and Moreira form an axis of talent that also finds correspondence in training: the two understand each other, Rabiot has taken Moreira under his wing and is a big fan of his. You can see it from how they look for each other during matches, from their dialogue on the pitch: it is a fact that quality players recognize one another. Another great friend in the team is Alexis Saelemaekers, a fellow countryman and teammate also in the Belgian national team.
In the summer, at a time in the transfer market when there was not yet any suspicion of the negotiations, Moreira had posted a photo in which he was training in a Rossoneri shirt. Specifically, Saelemaekers’ number 56. "It was a simple coincidence, it had nothing to do with the negotiations. Alexis and I are very good friends, he gave me the shirt when we were at the World Cup. I liked it very much and took it with me on holiday." In the summer, on his farewell post to Strasbourg, there was also a "like" from Rafa Leao.
His father and grandfather were also footballers
Football is a family affair. Diego Moreira was born in Liège on August 6, 2004: his father, former Guinea-Bissau international Almami Samori da Silva Moreira, was then a player for Standard. Moreira senior had grown up football-wise in Portugal, where he had completed his journey through the youth national teams before wearing the shirt of Guinea-Bissau’s senior national team. His mother, on the other hand, is the Belgian Emilie Graf, daughter of Helmut Graf. And then there is grandfather Helmut, another footballer, an Austrian who played for Admira Wacker Mödling from 1983 to 1999, with more than 350 appearances in the Austrian first division.
In fact, Almami is Diego’s number one fan, follows him everywhere, and his Instagram profile is full of photos of them together. His father influences his career choices but without ever wanting to appear in the spotlight. His son has a market value of 50 million euros, the price Milan paid Strasbourg this summer to bring him into the Rossoneri squad.
He also has two younger brothers and a girlfriend, Shahinez: she does not live with him in Milan, but she often comes to visit him. He also has a dog, Blue, who is not yet in Italy. In his free time, he watches a lot of football on TV, but if he has to choose an alternative sport to keep himself in training, he opts for padel. He likes Arab food very much, while among Italian dishes he cannot resist pasta with pesto or with shrimp.
He wears the number 22 in honour of Kakà
Two evenings ago, "the most beautiful night of my Rossoneri history." Others will follow, but the charm of a derby won with a goal and two assists in front of his idol Kaká could indeed prove unrepeatable.
Behind the choice of the number 22 that he wears on his back, there is a precise reason, and it goes by the name of Ricardo Kaká. One of his idols since childhood: on Saturday evening, the Brazilian was in the stands after making his emotional entrance into the Rossoneri Hall of Fame.
At the end of the match, Moreira said of him: "I thank him even just for being there and for having passed his number 22 on to me."
For one night, there was also a transfer of talent, of pure magic. Diego again on Ricky: "I have always followed him, I liked his way of playing and the explosiveness he had on the pitch."
Incredible: two evenings ago, it was Kaká who was applauding him.
Diego Moreira pays close attention to his look and posts his outfits
If you take a look around his social media profiles, you can find some close-up shots of him in which he shows off his outfit of the day. Moreira particularly cares about his looks, and if they can be a source of inspiration, why not post them?
He appears in different styles: he has been seen wearing jeans, tracksuits, shorts, designer slides, tank tops, T-shirts two sizes too big, short-sleeved shirts, and NBA-style caps with visors.
After Leao, Diego too is passionate about the fashion world. Milan is the right city to express another of his many passions.
He speaks English, French and Portuguese, but he will soon be able to express himself in Italian as well. His mother could give him a hand, as she has no Italian origins but speaks our language fluently. He has a very close relationship with his mother and, when she learned that her son had been called up for the World Cup, she could not hold back her tears.
