Nuno Mendes: The teenager who turned the scout as a robber became a "left in the world"

Written by Han Bing Portugal defeated Spain, the defending champions of the European Cup and the UEFA Nations League, and won the UEFA Nations League championship for the first time in six years. Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored the goal to send the game to extra time, was the focus of traffic, but it was Nuno Mendes, the left-back who won the best of the game. Let Salah and Saka, who dominate the right side of the Premier League, lose their color, and make the number one golden boy in football, Yamal, shine - the Angolan left-back who has just been crowned the "European Champion and Double Champion" and is under 23 years old, has become a well-deserved "world left" in football today.

In 2019, Mendes is the third defender to win the award after Ruben Dias (Portugal, 2019 final) and Dimarco (Italy, 2023 third-place match), but no defender has ever won the UEFA Nations League final and semi-finals title like him. Nuno Mendes is a left-back who has won two of the best awards in a major tournament for the national team.

In the UEFA Nations League final, Mendes not only completely erased Yamal's "superstar trace", but also helped Portugal equalize for the first time with a brilliant goal, and even Cristiano Ronaldo's second-half equaliser came from his unreasonable burst cross on the left.

Mendes contributed seven ball wins, four successful dribbles, three tackles and two interceptions. Mendes has 3 assists in the group stage of this UEFA Nations League, assisted Ronaldo in the semifinals and finals, and in the last 10 Portuguese games, he alone handed over 1 goal and 6 assists.

In the Champions League before, Mendes was already sharp, with 4 goals and 1 assist in 16 starts, which was just his additional contribution, and what was even more terrifying was his complete restriction on the opponent's right side. In the 1/8 finals, he "locked" Salah in two legs, with a total of 12 tackles and 21 duels; Against Arsenal in the semi-finals, he won 14 duels, 7 tackles, 6 aerial duels, 3 regained the ball, while contributing 6 clearances and 1 interception, making Saka feel that "this road is not going to work".

In the Champions League, Mendes has the 2nd most tackles (48), 3rd interceptions (23), 4th (83) and 9th (849) passes. It's hard to imagine that such a statistic could come from a full-back. Mendes, who is now worth 70 million euros and is expected to rise, has used his "Tianlu King" level performance to make the total investment of 45 million euros in Grand Paris look worth the money.

Mendez is a descendant of Angolan immigrants born in Lisbon and grew up in a slum community along the Sintra Railway. It wasn't until he was 9 years old that he started playing football, often skipping school and playing football. At that time, he was discovered by the school's physical education teacher, Botello, and joined a small local club. Mendes showed great talent and soon caught the attention of the three giants of the Portuguese Super League. Although he trained at Benfica for a while, Sporting Portugal's scout Momad quickly poached the player.

Momad followed Mendez after training, and at one point made the 11-year-old think he was a robber and rush home. When Momad knocked on the door, Mendes, who was walking into the kitchen to get a cold drink, hurriedly grabbed a knife just in case. Although the first meeting was awkward, he managed to convince Mendes. For the next four years, Mendes spent two hours a night commuting between his home and the club's football school, returning home to practice with his physical education teacher, Botero. At the age of 14, the hard-working Mendes was finally able to live in a football dormitory.

Mendes initially played as a number 10 or winger, but was transformed into a left-back at Sporting because of the coaches who felt his speed, unselfish attitude and attacking instincts could make him a top-class full-back. But the transition process ran into problems, and the coaches considered giving him up at one point. Thankfully, Mendes is smart and hardworking, and in 2020 he was one of the few elite players to be recruited by Amorim into the first team. In 2021, Mendes became the youngest player to start for Sporting since Cristiano Ronaldo and the third-youngest player in team history to score his first goal, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo and Kleesma. Mendes was soon offered a new five-year contract with a €45 million release clause and an annual salary of €1.44 million.

Mendes' mother, Cesartina, a cleaner, wept bitterly when the new contract was signed, because Mendes' father had just died of a serious illness a year earlier, and he had not been able to witness her son's success. His deceased father has always been the driving force behind his efforts, and Mendes said he would be proud of himself and would dedicate himself to every assist, goal and victory.

The nickname given to Mendes by Fa Xiao and his teammates is Kandimba, a reserved child character from the hit series A Unica Mulher on Portuguese TVI. Because even though he joined Grand Paris four years ago and became a regular player, he still loves to coloring books, building Lego bricks and sucking his thumb while sleeping.

Mendes is successful enough now, and Paris has just renewed his contract for five years, allowing the young "World One Left" to get a high salary of 10 million euros for the team's first-team players. His girlfriend is Brazilian model Thalyta Silva, who has been dating for more than a year, who also wore a Paris jersey at the celebration dinner after the victory in Grand Paris, posing with her boyfriend with the Champions League trophy. Mendes, who has a bumper harvest in career and love, now dreams of continuing to assist his idol Ronaldo and working hard for the ultimate dream of the Hercules Cup.