The Italian Simone Muratoreformer Juventus Turin and Atalanta player, announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 26 due to a brain tumor that He was diagnosed three years ago. and that prevented him from returning to the playing fields.
The life of Muratore, a Juve youth player who made his debut in the Champions League and Serie A with Maurizio Sarri, even champion of the ‘Scudetto’ in 2020, changed radically on December 11, 3 years ago, when he was diagnosed. a neurocytoma in the left ventricle, a very rare aggressive tumor in adults which forced him to start from scratch.
From that moment, the 23-year-old’s football career ended. His last game was on October 10, 2021 with Portuguese side Tondela, where he was on loan from Atalanta.
In an extensive statement, the now former player reviewed his difficult situation and how, despite trying, he was unable to play again. He had to relearn how to speak, write and run.
“Three years have passed since that day, news that came out of nowhere and changed my life. Neurocytoma in the left ventricle. I have never shed a tear since the day of the news until the night before the operation, in the room with my mother, when I burst into tears like a child, with the fear of never waking up again, or at least waking up and not being the same as before,” he began on Instagram.
“There were days, weeks, months, years of suffering. I had to relearn how to speak correctly, to walk, to run, to write, to read, to count, “It was like I was a child again and had to start over, from day zero,” he added.
“Today I put an end to my career as a player, I tried until the end to come back, I put tears and sweat into it, but I was no longer the same as before, I realized that in any case I was lucky to be cured and to be well. “I was lucky to play with extraordinary, outstanding players, on the field but especially off it, and no one is ever going to take that away from me,” he commented.
Now that he had overcome the illness, he was grateful for what he had experienced: “I am grateful for everything I did and achieved within that green rectangle, together with my teammates, who later became my friends. They were magnificent years, the field, the locker room, the passion… These are things that are difficult to explain if you don’t experience them firsthand.”
“First of all, I thank my family for always being by my side. To Tommaso, my little one, unique and special, who has given me the strength to move forward, and finally to my friends. I thank Juventus, to Atalanta and Tondela for being by my side. You learn to give importance to things when you are one step away from losing them. “Life is a wonderful gift,” he said.