Junior Messias

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Walter and the second or paternal family name is Messias.
Júnior Messias
Junior Messias.jpg
Messias with Crotone in 2020
Personal information
Full name Walter Messias Júnior
Date of birth (1991-05-13) 13 May 1991 (age 30)
Place of birth Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position(s) Attacking midfielder, forward
Club information
Current team
 AC Milan (on loan from Crotone)
Number 30
Youth career
2008–2011 Cruzeiro
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2017 Casale 32 (21)
2016–2017 Chieri 33 (14)
2017–2019 Gozzano 51 (8)
2019– Crotone 70 (15)
2021– → AC Milan (loan) 19 (4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:39, 19 March 2022 (UTC)

Walter Messias Júnior (born 13 May 1991) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Serie A club AC Milan, on loan from Crotone.

Club career[]

Early career[]

Messias started his senior career in the lower-tier, non-professional Italian divisions,[2] being discovered by former Torino player and manager , who persuaded him to join Casale in 2015.[3]

At the end of the 2017–18 season his team Gozzano was promoted to Serie C.[4] He made his professional Serie C debut for Gozzano on 23 September 2018 in a game against Cuneo, starting the game and played the whole match.[5] He scored his first professional-level goal on 26 September 2018, against Piacenza.[citation needed]

Crotone[]

On 31 January 2019, Messias' rights were sold to Serie B club Crotone, who loaned him back to Gozzano until the end of the 2018–19 season.[6] He finished his first professional-level season with 33 appearances (32 as a starter) and four goals.[citation needed] Messias made his Serie B debut for Crotone on 24 August 2019 in a game against Cosenza, starting the game and played the whole match.[7] He was instrumental in Crotone's promotion to the Italian top flight (the second in the club history) by scoring six goals throughout the season, and was confirmed as part of the team squad for the 2020–21 Serie A campaign.[citation needed]

He scored his first Serie A goal on 25 October 2020 against Cagliari, followed by two braces in December against Spezia and Parma.[citation needed]

Loan to AC Milan[]

In 2021, Messias joined AC Milan on a one year loan deal with an option to buy.[8] He made his debut for the club on 4 October 2021, coming on as a substitute in a 3–2 win over Atalanta. On 24 November, he scored his first goal for Milan on his UEFA Champions League debut; he scored the only goal of a 1–0 group stage win over Atlético Madrid. Messias described his header as "the most important moment of [his] career".[9]. On 1st December 2021, he received his first league start scoring a brace in a 3-0 away win for Milan against Genoa. On 6 January 2022 against Roma, he scored the second goal in eventual 3-1 win.[10] On 17 January against Spezia, Messias last minute goal and potentially the winner was controversially disallowed by the referee due to a beforehand foul on his teammate, Rebic, Spezia went on to score the second and win 2-1, the referee apologized to Milan players for the incident.[11][12] On 19 February, he scored the opener against Salernitana in 2-2 draw.[13]

Personal life[]

A Brazilian by birth, Messias moved to Italy in 2011 together with his wife and son, joining his brother in Turin, where he started working in the delivery sector and playing football for an amateur team of the local Peruvian community in his free time.[3]

Career statistics[]

As of match played 19 March 2022[14]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Coppa Italia Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Casale Eccellenza 32 21 — — — 32 21
Chieri 2016–17 Serie D 33 14 — — 1[a] 1 34 15
Gozzano 2017–18 Serie D 19 4 — — 4[b] 1 23 5
2018–19 Serie C 32 4 — — 3[c] 1 35 5
Total 51 8 — — 7 2 58 10
Crotone 2019–20 Serie B 34 6 2 0 — — 36 6
2020–21 Serie A 36 9 1 0 — — 37 9
Total 70 15 3 0 — — 73 15
AC Milan (loan) 2021–22 Serie A 19 4 3 0 2[d] 1 — 24 5
Career total 205 62 6 0 2 1 8 3 221 66
  1. ^ Appearance in Coppa Italia Serie D
  2. ^ One appearance in Coppa Italia Serie D, three appearances and one goal in Serie D play-offs
  3. ^ Appearances in Coppa Italia Serie C
  4. ^ Appearances in UEFA Champions League

References[]

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 January 2021. Retrieved 31 August 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ Junior Messias at TuttoCalciatori.net (in Italian)
  3. ^ a b "Junior Messias, dallo sbarco in Italia in cerca di lavoro alla Serie A nel Crotone" (in Italian). LACNews24. 18 November 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  4. ^ "La storia di Junior, il "Messia" brasiliano che a Crotone avrà finalmente la sua chance | Sport Team Calabria" (in Italian). 31 January 2019. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Cuneo v Gozzano game report". Soccerway. 23 September 2018.
  6. ^ "Comunicato 04/2019" (Press release) (in Italian). Gozzano. 31 January 2019.
  7. ^ "Crotone v Cosenza game report". Soccerway.
  8. ^ "Official Statement: Messias Junior". AC Milan. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  9. ^ Campanale, Susy (24 November 2021). "Messias: 'Dedicated to those who believed in me'". Football Italia. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
  10. ^ "SENSATIONAL START TO 2022". Retrieved 6 January 2022.
  11. ^ Bettoni, Lorenzo. "REFEREE SERRA REVEALS WHAT IBRAHIMOVIC TOLD HIM AFTER MILAN-SPEZIA". Football Italia. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  12. ^ "AC MILAN BEATEN AT THE DEATH". acmilan. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
  13. ^ "A DRAW IN SALERNO". acmilan. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  14. ^ Junior Messias at Soccerway. Retrieved 24 November 2021.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""