From Man United at 16 with his twin brother to playing with Emiliano Sala: Fabio da Silva talks to ESPN


He played in a Champions League final against Lionel Messi. He was mentored by United's legendary coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, and, at Cardiff, by Man United's current manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Now, he's in France, where he was a teammate to Emiliano Sala before the Argentine striker's fatal flight to join Cardiff.


"I'm shyer than my twin brother."

This is how Fabio da Silva starts his ESPN interview at his home in Nantes, France's sixth biggest city. It's the afternoon after Manchester United beat Paris Saint-Germain, a result that made Fabio smile. He's due to play PSG in a few days, a game that would end up being postponed because of security issues and protests in France.


"I was surrounded by these great stars and felt intimidated. My brother didn't care. I also had an injury at the beginning and I didn't develop maybe like everyone expected. I had flashes of good moments but not enough. I had injuries, but I had six years at United, I won my first cap for Brazil and won the Premier League. I was not a failure, and I learned so much.

How often do you speak to Rafael?


I'm close to our other brother, Luiz, too. He was like a dad to us for many years. We benefited from his mistakes when he tried to be a footballer, and we can be like a dad to him now.

- Andy Mitten: From Fergie to Van Gaal -- Rafael da Silva talks to ESPN




Some people were incredibly kind to us [Fabio and Rafael], like Darren Fletcher. He helped us a lot, and we're still friends. Rio Ferdinand and Cristiano [Ronaldo], who spoke Portuguese, were a big help. We didn't know a single word of English. I've heard Cristiano called selfish, but he gave us nonstop advice on and off the pitch.


Anderson was another friend. Cristiano and Fletch were older, more serious. Anderson was more my age. We'd go to a Brazilian restaurant with Anderson and he offered to teach us English for free, which was nice of him, but his own English was not the best. He did teach us lots of swear words in English.


English football is very different from Brazilian football...

In Brazil, I'd been captain of the national team at the U-17 level. I scored lots of goals for that team, and I would dribble, because that's what we did. Not in Manchester. Maybe I didn't develop enough, but I was also in competition with Patrice Evra and he was always fit. He was helpful to me, and we had a good relationship. He didn't make it easy on me, and he was honest. He even said, 'Fabio, I can give you a chance [to play], but imagine if you do well and I lose my place?'

Even without Patrice, I had too many injuries, and that stopped me getting into the rhythm of playing every week.


I struggled to sleep the night before the game in the hotel and maybe got three hours. My life flashed before me. I'd watched these games as a child, and now I was about to play for Manchester United against Barcelona at Wembley in the final of the Champions League.

Were you confident of beating them?


Barcelona scored first, but it was 1-1 at halftime after Wayne [Rooney] scored a great goal. Then [Lionel] Messi scored; he's not human. He was the difference, but it's hard to touch the ball when Barcelona pass it so well. We defended well, and I always believed that we could break and score, but no.



Of course! I scored, my brother set up a goal and we won. My best position was right-back, but I played few games there. I became a left-back because my brother was a right-back, but I was better with my left foot than him!

How did you end up at Nantes?

I was happy to go to France. [Editor's note: Fabio spent four seasons in England after leaving Man United in 2014 before deciding to try Ligue 1.] Rafael was enjoying being at Lyon, and I liked the idea of playing in a new country. I moved in 2016. My wife and kids like it here, the weather is better. Nantes is a beautiful city, and Nantes is a big club. Only Saint-Etienne and Marseille have won more league titles than Nantes. The Nantes fans are passionate, very noisy. I feel settled here.

How does Ligue 1 compare to the Premier League?




How is it going as a player?


And they were going well for your forward, Emiliano Sala.


Neil Warnock came to watch Sala play when we beat Marseille 3-2. Sala played very well that day, scoring and setting up a goal. He was a fantastic guy, extremely professional, and he scored lots of goals. We had a good relationship. It's just so hard what happened.

He came back to say goodbye to his Nantes teammates.


He'd been here for four years. He arrived as an unknown and became the main guy in the team. He wasn't technically unbelievable, but he worked so hard for the team, he fought for every ball, he never stopped running. Fans loved him.

Emiliano ate lunch with us on Monday, and my last words to him were 'If there's anything I can help you with in Cardiff, please tell me because I know the club and the city.' He nodded and said he would text me.

What happened next?

We came into training on Tuesday morning and Nico [Pallois], our centre-back, said to Anthony, who works at the club, during breakfast: 'Just check what time Sala arrived in Cardiff because he never texted me back. He texted me when he was on the plane, and he said he would text when he arrived.' Nico wasn't worried. We sat down for breakfast; the players have every meal together at Nantes.


- Sam Borden: In Search Of Emiliano Sala

Nico was destroyed. Then Anthony told everyone. People started to cry. When you hear that the plane is missing, you fear -- you know -- that something terrible has happened. You want to believe something else, but you know. The coach [Vahid Halilhodzic] was very upset, and the players went home. The preparation for the cup game stopped. The coach didn't care if we lost points or got fined: he said we were not playing. The coach had cried in front of us when he said Sala was leaving -- he was very close to him.








Out of every 10 children born in Brazil, nine want to be a footballer. I've had downs of course, but I was having them at a high level and they allowed me to learn so much. I played for Manchester United, and I played in a Champions League final. And I played for Brazil, the dream of every young boy from my country.