Barcelona star tells heartbreaking story of losing mother – ‘I still remember her last screams’

“They had their backs to me, and I felt I had a chance to do something. Today I regret doing it, but I managed to punch him in the back of the head, on the nape of his neck. He fell forward, and the knife fell to the ground. I managed to kick the knife away, and suddenly another one came from behind and hit me on the head with an iron bar. This scar I have here, to this day, is a result of that; I got eight stitches and was knocked unconscious.”

“I fainted. And then, when I woke up… there was a knife pointed at my neck.”

Cancelo lost mother in car accident

That was a second traumatic event, after he lost his mother in a car accident as a 19-year-old just making his way in the game. The accident occurred in Portugal, with Cancelo asleep when it began.

“It was in a matter of milliseconds that my life changed forever. I remember my mother’s last scream and my eight-year-old brother crying. I tried to lift the car to get my mother out, but I couldn’t. Lifting a car is impossible.”

Previously, he has commented that he considered retiring from football due to the impact it had on him. The Portuguese international is a popular figure at Barcelona, and his return this year was welcomed by the dressing room, in particular Gavi, whom he is close with.