Chapter 96 – First Steps
The morning light in Dortmund was nothing like back home.
It was thin, pale, and cold. Not golden or warm like the sunrises in Campinas. Thiago stood by the hotel room window with a cup of tea Marina had insisted he try. It didn’t taste like anything he was used to—bitter and bland—but he kept sipping anyway, just for something to hold.
Today was his first real day.
He hadn’t even played yet, and already everything felt heavier. Bigger. The city was quiet below, and he could just barely make out the faint blur of traffic moving down a faraway road. Somewhere in this same city, Jürgen Klopp was probably already yelling instructions in training. Somewhere out there was the pitch that would decide his future.
His phone buzzed.
Marina: Driver downstairs. Be ready.
He pulled on a thick jacket over his hoodie, grabbed his bag, and headed down.
The ride to the training center was shorter than he expected. Jens, the same driver from yesterday, gave a polite nod but said nothing. Marina sat beside him, tapping away at her phone. Occasionally, she would glance at Thiago and ask something like, "Sleep okay?" or "You eat something this morning?" but mostly they rode in silence.
The BVB training complex loomed ahead—sleek, modern buildings in Dortmund’s signature black and yellow, surrounded by wide-open pitches covered in a thin layer of frost. There were a few players arriving already, some on bikes, others stepping out of nice black cars.
As they pulled up, a club staff member was already waiting at the entrance. He wore a Borussia Dortmund windbreaker and smiled like he’d practiced it.
"Thiago, right? Welcome," the man said in slow, clear English. "I’m Henrik. I’ll be guiding you through the day."