Ex-Bundesliga professional in an interview
In the list of record foreigners who were active in the Bundesliga, Rafinha occupies tenth place and shaped an era at both FC Schalke 04 and FC Bayern Munich. The Brazilian had a particularly strong time with the German record champions. In addition to German championships and DFB Cup titles, he also won the Champions League in 2013. At Transfermarkt he talks about his career and the desire to return to Germany.
The love of active football is simply greater than the opportunity to retire from football. A phrase that describes Rafinha’s situation well. Despite his 37 years, he is a regular at six-time Brazilian champions FC Sao Paulo. He would have had the opportunity to resign in 2020 at the peak of his career, after all he won both the Brazilian championship and the Copa Libertadores, the South American equivalent of the European Champions League, with Flamengo Rio de Janeiro in the 2018/2019 season.
“I’m often asked how I can still be so fit at the age of 37. The answer is simple: I live extremely professionally. I have a private athletic trainer, a private physiotherapist and a private chef. I focus my life completely on football. As long as I still feel butterflies in my stomach and nervousness before games, I know it’s the right thing to do. The love of football drives me every day. I have never felt any pressure, just joy and gratitude. Someone who is unemployed and has to support his family feels pressure,” explains Rafinha.
Rafinha: Early days at Schalke “extremely hard for me”
At the same time, he would never have dreamed of having such a fulfilling career, and the dream of great European professional football would probably have ended quickly if Rafinha had failed in Germany. In 2005, at the age of just 19, he switched to FC Schalke 04 without any professional experience to speak of, without his family and without any knowledge of German. An age at which you are shaped by many impressions, and the right-footed player remembers his first few weeks in Germany well.
In 2005 Rafinha came to FC Schalke 04 as a teenager
“Most of the time the fans don’t realize how difficult it is for a young player to settle in at a new club and only judge him on his performances. The early days were extremely hard for me. I didn’t speak a word of German. The only sentence I could say at first was, ‘Hello, my friend. How are you doing?’ Even worse than the language was the weather. In November and especially in December I said to my family: I want to leave here. It was only -10 degrees, but it felt like -50 degrees. After surviving the winter, it was clear to me that I would stay,” says the 37-year-old with a laugh.
It is well known that South American talents in particular do not always get along with the conditions in Germany and quite often fail. But that’s exactly what the right footer didn’t want. Accordingly, the right-back stuck to Marcelo Bordon, especially in the early days, who acted like a mentor for him. “My first Champions League home game was against AC Milan. Before the game we stayed at the hotel and I shared the hotel room with Marcelo Bordon. I was so nervous I just couldn’t sleep. At some point Marcelo noticed and, like a fatherly friend, explained to me why I would play well against Milan. The sentences calmed me down for whatever reason. At the end Marcelo said: ‘Now it’s time to sleep. announcement from me.’ And in the end I actually played really well against Milan,” Rafinha recalls with a smile.
Rafinha’s most unpleasant opponents: Ronaldinho, Ribéry and Maik Franz
There is another reason he likes to look back on this game: “Cafu, my absolute idol, played for Milan back then,” says Rafinha. “I trained with him a few weeks earlier because the Brazilian U20 national team was staying at the same hotel as the Seleção. I asked him very shyly after training for a photo. After our game he came up to me and said: ‘I told you back then that anything is possible in football. You can achieve anything if you believe in yourself. Welcome to the greats of the Champions League.’ That really impressed me.”
With every league game played, Márcio Rafael Ferreira de Souza, Rafinha’s real name, gained confidence and developed into one of the most sought-after right-backs in the Bundesliga. The Schalke fans in particular helped him in his development. “In every home game, we players felt the curve behind us. Whenever I heard the chants ‘Rafinha, oho’, I ran an extra meter and even faster to the baseline. In Brazil, Schalke is sometimes perceived as a small club, but this club with its atmosphere is one of the biggest clubs in Europe,” emphasizes the former “squire”, who lists his three most unpleasant opponents in addition to Ronaldinho, Franck Ribéry and Maik Franz.
“Franck was awesome. You never knew if he was going left or right now. Franck is also outstanding as a person. He alone can make a crew cabin tremble and laugh. Ronaldinho, on the other hand, was more casually world-class, just a magician. He imbued every pass with a form of magic. But when it comes to the toughest opponent, it’s Maik Franz. It wasn’t nice to play against him. That was brutal and often hurt. I wasn’t a child of sadness either. Jupp Heynckes always called me a bastard,” laughs the 332-time Bundesliga player.
Rafinha: Magath prevented Bayern change – Quälix training “not so mine”
As professional as Rafinha behaved on the pitch, he couldn’t be completely without fluff. His Brazilian parties in particular are said to have been legendary. How did that fit together? “A Brazilian needs his freedom. I think as long as he does what he does, it should be given to him. Mirko Slomka in particular understood that and gave me freedom. I remember one trip away, when Lincoln, Marcelo Bordon, Kevin Kuranyi and I took small drums on the bus and just started drumming. Some of the players looked strange, but it made us happy and we won the game in the end.”
The great ease, however, vanished with the more demanding discipline under new coach Felix Magath. With great expectations and just as much power, as manager, head coach and sports director in one person, he switched from VfL Wolfsburg to the Royal Blues as champion maker. But after the first training sessions, Rafinha knew that the fun would take a back seat. “I learned a lot from Felix Magath. I think he’s a good coach too, but I wouldn’t count him among my favorite coaches. I need fun and joy in training in order to be able to perform well. I think more relaxation and laughter are just part of it. At Magath, a lot was about discipline and seriousness, that wasn’t really my thing.”
In this difficult phase for him, FC Bayern Munich signaled their interest. But while many in the club were positive about a change, Magath prohibited the change to the German record champions. “I had a lot of requests: Inter and AC Milan really wanted to get me, and Liverpool FC were also interested. But I only wanted to go to Bayern. Magath made it very clear to me that I’m not going anywhere under him.” The right-back eventually switched to CFC Genoa with the ulterior motive of being able to join FC Bayern at a later point in time. Which in fact happened. Just one year later he found his way to Munich.
Rafinha’s favorite coaches: Carlo, Jupp, Pep – “Icy mood” under Kovac
For the four-time Brazilian international, the competition was a big change. While he was almost unrivaled at Schalke, he had to fight for the place at the record champions. One of the consequences of this was that he was only allowed to watch the 2013 Champions League final from the outside. “Of course I would have liked to have celebrated the win on the pitch, but at the time Philipp Lahm was simply world-class at right-back. However, during the season I was able to play a large part in the fact that we got this far in the first place and I am still a proud part of the treble legends to this day. I really enjoy looking back on that,” emphasizes Rafinha.
It wasn’t until the 2013/14 season that he finally made his breakthrough with the record champions. In connection with the transfer of Philipp Lahm to defensive midfield, Bayern coach Pep Guardiola at the time relied on Rafinha at right-back. For him, the Spaniard is one of the best coaches he has had the opportunity to train under. “I owe Pep an incredible amount. Contrary to all the critics, he relied on me and made it clear from the start that I was his right-back. I felt the trust in every training session and in every game. Each unit under Pep was comparable to a Bundesliga game. There was always something new. He pushed us forward every day.”
Between 2011 and 2019, Rafinha won the championship seven times in Munich
Why he doesn’t talk about Guardiola from the best of his coaches also has to do with Jupp Heynckes and Carlo Ancelotti. Under the coaching legends, Rafinha also completed a large number of games in Bayern dress. “Jupp and Carlo are simply outstanding. They weren’t just like father figures to me. It was extremely important to both of them that there was a good atmosphere in the dressing room and that the players always came to training in a good mood. With Niko Kovac, on the other hand, I unfortunately experienced the complete opposite. I don’t know why there was this icy mood, but it wasn’t particularly conducive.”
Rafinha: Discussions about return – “Absolutely end your career in Europe”
Although the talk is always about the great FC Bayern Munich, the ex-Bundesliga player, who celebrated a total of seven championship titles, four DFB Cup successes as well as one Champions League title and one FIFA Club World Cup with the Munich team, felt a family atmosphere within the club. According to Rafinha, the tearful farewell at the time was also due to the fact that he left many friends behind when he left Munich.
“For me, FC Bayern isn’t a club, it’s a family. It doesn’t matter whether you meet the kit man, an employee in the fan shop or in the office, everyone is happy to go to work and enjoys being able to work for Bayern. For me, Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge are responsible for this development. You’ve seen in the last few months what happens to the club when they’re gone. They are the faces of FC Bayern Munich,” Rafinha makes clear.
He still follows the Bundesliga very closely and is back in Munich for the ten-year meeting of the treble legends on July 23rd. A visit that could be a small hint towards the end of my career: “I really want to end my career in Europe and preferably in Germany. In fact, initial talks have already taken place and I would be delighted if we could see each other again in the Bundesliga soon.”
Interview by Henrik Stadnischeko
To home page