Gimenez Feyenoord pledge after making Milan ‘dream come true’ | OneFootball

Santiago Gimenez warns he will ‘not celebrate’ if he scores against his former club Feyenoord tonight, but Milan represented ‘a love I have had since I was a child.’

The Champions League play-off first leg kicks off at the De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam at 20.00 GMT.

You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from this game and Club Brugge-Atalanta on the Liveblog.

The Rossoneri invested heavily to bring in Gimenez on transfer deadline day, paying over €30m plus add-ons to secure the Mexico international.

By a strange twist of fate, his first start could well be against his former club just a couple of weeks after his departure.

“I will experience this in a very intense and emotional way. I am a player who puts sentiment in front of everything and I will make no exception tonight,” Gimenez told Amazon Prime Video Italia.

If he does score against his old teammates and fans, will he be tempted to celebrate?

“No, I will not celebrate, because this is a team that I respect and that has given me so much.”

Gimenez could not resist Milan opportunity

Official: Santiago Gimenez joins Milan from Feyenoord (picture via www.acmilan.com)

When the call came from Milan, Gimenez pushed hard to make the transfer happen, revealing why this was so special to him.

“Milan was the love I had since childhood, I always dreamed of playing here. I grew up watching Milan win everything, the side with Pirlo, Gattuso, Maldini, Nesta. I was a kid and that team enchanted me, I never wanted to take their jersey off.

“I have so many photographs of me as a child wearing the Milan shirt and now to wear it for real is a dream come true. I chose the Number 7 because it was worn by Andriy Shevchenko, a legend of this club. I know it’s a weighty number, but I like to challenge myself and will give my best.”

The Mexico international has the nickname ‘Bebote’ – meaning Big Baby – and it came from his family.

“My parents called me Bebote because I was a ‘small giant’ as a child. Even just a few days old, I was physically quite big, but then the nickname became viral all over the world…”