Chelsea star Oscar: I always wanted to be like Kaká and play in Europe

The Brazilian playmaker moved away from his native country for the first time this summer, when the Blues signed him for £25 million from Internacional. The 21-year-old has been enjoying a first-team role at Chelsea, ever since his two wonderful goals in the Champions League against Juventus, which is a world away from the streets […]
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sambafoot_admin
2012-10-04 22:12:00

The Brazilian playmaker moved away from his native country for the first time this summer, when the Blues signed him for £25 million from Internacional.

The 21-year-old has been enjoying a first-team role at Chelsea, ever since his two wonderful goals in the Champions League against Juventus, which is a world away from the streets of South America, where he first learnt his trade.

Oscar said: “Since I was a little boy, everybody in Americana thought I would become a professional footballer.

“I started, as most Brazilians do, by playing on the street.

“In Americana, there were maybe some courts or little pitches that we would play on sometimes. However, from the age of five or six, we would play almost all the time on the street after school.”

The Seleção international, who represented his country at the London Olympics, said that he used to idolise the Brazilians plying their trade in Europe, and hoped to become like them one day, especially one player in particular.

He added: “The most important for me was Kaká, because he was at São Paulo, where I started my career.

“So, he was the biggest idol for us there. Also, Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, they were the top players at the time when I started as a kid and they were already playing in Europe with top clubs.

“These are the players that we all tried to emulate. We tried to see what they would do on the pitch and then try to do it as well as them when we played. Now, I am going to work hard to do as well as they did in Europe.”

Oscar, who has been compared to Kaká on many occasions, could get chance to play alongside his idol when the Seleção face Iraq and Japan in friendlies later this month, as the pair have both been called up by Mano Menezes.

Despite his fascination with Kaká and European football, Oscar revealed that his first inspiration to play football was actually his father.  

Oscar said: “My father used to play football, although not professionally, and that is when most boys take up the game for the first time in Brazil.

“Obviously, with my father playing football, most of my family liked the game as well and we all followed the same path as young boys.

“That’s when my older cousins would start noticing that I had some talent and, because everybody was saying this, I wanted to try my best to achieve something.”

Oscar, who signed a five-year contract with the Premier League outfit, recently revealed that he wants to work his way to legendary status at Stamford Bridge, meaning the talented midfielder could be playing in Europe for many years to come.