By Melody Gross 
Currently in the service of the city of Orlando in the United States, Alexandre Pato opened his heart in an emotional text posted on the site Player Tribune. The 32-year-old Brazilian striker spoke about the expectations generated when he signed with AC Milan in 2007 and how that affected his career.
“I was the wonder of the national team, everyone praised me, from the press to my teammates. I loved that attention, I wanted to be the center of it, but do you know what happened? I dreamed a lot. As much as I devoted myself on a daily basis, my imagination took me to several places. I really got On the golden ball in my head. It’s so hard not to get carried away. After what I went through to get here, why wouldn’t I take advantage of it? I couldn’t stop living in the present, but my head was always on the future,” he began to vent.
Fast forward to 2010, Alexandre Pato recalled the many physical problems he started experiencing.
I started having a lot of injuries, and I lost faith in my body and what people said about me. I was going to practice and I thought I couldn’t get injured, because if I did, I wouldn’t be back anymore. Everyone expected me to score 30 goals a season and I could barely be on the field. I paid a heavy price.”
Remember that Alexandre Pato left Milan in 2013 to return to Brazil where he spent time in Corinthians and Sao Paulo. Adventures at Chelsea, Villarreal, Tianjin Tianhai and a new spell in Sao Paulo followed in the tricolor before joining Orlando City in 2021, a club that scored three goals in 19 games.