Dante, legendary Nice captain at 42, begins the final chapter of his career | OneFootball

He has at most 12 games left in Ligue 1 and hopes to play “three Cup games” before hanging up his boots and becoming a coach. Dante, the great captain of Nice, at 42 years old, wants to savor his last days as a player with the same passion as his first day.

Claude Puel, another example of longevity in football, who gave the defender his debut at Lille more than 20 years ago, is not one for empty praise.

However, when he talks about his captain, his vocabulary changes.

“To evolve at this level, and at his age, is extraordinary,” he says about the player who began his European career at Lille in 2004. He then played in the Belgian and German leagues. Borussia Mönchengladbach from 2009 to 2012, Bayern Munich from 2012 to 2015, and Wolfsburg from 2015 to 2016. Before returning to France and arriving in Nice a decade ago.

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“He wasn't the most talented”

“At the beginning, he wasn't the most talented, according to physical and even technical criteria. But he showed that he had an incredible personality and great mental strength.”

“Having a career like this, and at this level, reaching the Brazilian national team, demonstrates his intelligence, his ability to question himself, his self-development. How he constantly sought to improve even the smallest aspect of his qualities,” adds Puel.

“Having a career like this, and at this level, even reaching the Brazilian national team, demonstrates his intelligence, his ability to question himself, his self-development, and how he constantly sought to improve even the smallest aspect of his qualities,” adds Puel.

However, this season, the Nice captain, who has 13 caps for the Brazilian national team, has been far from his best form, hindered by knee injuries.

“It's not the season I wanted,” he admits. “But I am competitive. I always told myself I would make it to the end, despite the pain. We overcome that.”

Dante gradually recovered. “Two months to properly strengthen my muscles, so everything would work again,” explains the player.

“The change of coach doesn't have much to do with it,” he noted about Puel's arrival at the end of December.

“The change of coach doesn't have much to do with it,” he noted about Puel's arrival at the end of December. “The medical team developed a treatment plan and prepared Dante to improve his physical condition based on performance criteria, also aiming to preserve him,” explains Puel, who coached Nice between 2012 and 2016.

Future as a coach and Cup dreams

Faithful to his maxim that “hard work is more important than talent” and recognizing that in his 24-year career he played “very few matches without some kind of pain.” Dante is prepared for his final battles and “to fulfill the mission of staying in the first division.”

“I love football so much that I am making these final efforts. But the most important thing is not to harm the team, to keep playing well,” he said.

If he hasn't yet started the countdown to the last match of his career, because “it would be counterproductive,” he knows he will miss everything.

“The joy of effort, of sacrifice, it gives you the confidence to continue and that you don't find anywhere else; arriving in the morning to play, touching the ball, doing a rondo, passing,” he says.

“And then comes the adrenaline, the emotion when I arrive at the stadium,” he continues. Each time is like the first. The most important thing for a player is to make the most of every moment.

After this brief pause in his playing career, Dante will dedicate himself to coaching and, after six years of hard work, he has just achieved the most coveted title: professional coach.

This is quite rare for an active player, but it represents “a wealth of experience, allowing me to experience and observe everything I studied at the same time.”

“It was very intense, hours of learning, sharing, and connecting with people who have a different perspective. Because a player focuses on his own game, while a coach has a global view regarding the environment, its values, its philosophy, its style of play, human resource management, conflicts, and crises.”

The Brazilian is also driven by the dream of “finishing with a victory in the French Cup.” Nice faces Lorient in the quarter-finals on March 4th.

*With content from AFP.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.