From Playstation to real life vs Robert Lewandowski: Eintracht’s Tuta reflects on his starting debut

Eintracht Frankfurt’s 21-year old Brazilian defender Tuta was given his first starting, senior team debut in the 5-0 loss to Bayern Munich last weekend. The youngster spent a season long loan spell at Belgian side KV Kortrijk before returning to Frankfurt this summer and was given the start vs. Bayern partially due to the knee injury to David Abraham.

He spoke after the match about the incredible opportunity to start against Bayern and to be able to go up against Robert Lewandowski (Bild). In his opinion, the Polish ace is, without a doubt, the best striker in the world: “He is currently the best striker in the world, an almost overpowering opponent. It is difficult to start right off against him. I’m a young player who just started for the first time. I can take a great deal away from the game; it was still a magnificent experience and very instructive.”

Photo by CHRISTOF STACHE/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

An avid player of FIFA, Tuta jokingly mentioned that he doesn’t have Lewandowski in his ultimate team just quite yet, but that it’s certainly on his to-do list: “I currently don’t have Lewandowski on the team. But now that I’ve played against him and experienced him live, I’ll probably add him back.”

He also described what it was like to play against Bayern on FIFA and then being able to do it in real life himself: “And then you’re standing on the pitch; it’s actually crazy. I really like to play Playstation, and when I suddenly could play against Bayern myself, it was as if a video game had become real.”

Of course, a 5-0 routing isn’t the dream result Tuta might have hoped for on his starting debut for Eintracht, but there are always lessons to be learned, especially as such a young player in the Bundesliga. No one really covered himself in glory from Frankfurt’s perspective, but Tuta knows that he has to take some confidence from being given the start by Adi Hütter. He said, “Self-criticism is very important, but I also have to keep my self-confidence. And the fact that I could stand in the starting lineup against currently the best opponent in the world gives me self-confidence that I cannot let anything take away from me. We moreover do not play against Bayern every week.”