Renato Sanches is cursed with being young, gifted and black. Like so many top talents before him, he's being subjected to a hateful and baseless smear campaign that has its roots in racism.
The 18-year-old has blossomed into one of the brightest stars of Euro 2016, improving with every game just as his compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo did 12 years ago. Ronaldo never had to fend off questions about his age like Sanches, however; and the reason is because Ronaldo is white.
Instead of looking forward to Wednesday's semi-final against Wales with wide-eyed anticipation, Sanches is being hounded with accusations that his date of birth is fake and that he's actually many years older. Portugal coach Fernando Santos dismissed speculation in Tuesday's pre-match press conference that his youngest star is considerably older.
"Sanches was born in Portugal, not just anywhere, in Portugal," he told reporters. "He is 18, I'm 61. There's no doubt about that. I was born 61 years ago and I'm 61. He was born 18 years ago, he's 18."
The person responsible for making a public debate out of Benfica star Sanches' age is Sporting president Bruno de Carvalho. On March 20, he indirectly questioned if Sanches was really born on August 18, 1997 and called on the hospital he was born in to publish his birth certificate.
The truth, revealed by Jornal de Noticias, is that Sanches' father moved to France having split up with his mother a few months after his birth. As a result, Sanches' birth wasn't registered unil 2002, when his father returned to Portugal. Sanches has no case to answer and, in light of these facts, his continued critics are veering dangerously close to racism.
Bruno de Carvalho's comments were a disgusting low blow towards a kid for a teenage kid to take and his motives were surely to derail one of Benfica's star players as both teams tussled for the Primeira Liga title. It didn't work, thankfully - Benfica finished two points clear of Sporting and Bayern Munich splashed out €35 million on one of the most talented young players in the world.
Sanches wasn't finished with the matter, though. Record reported in May that the teenager has demanded that the Sporting president apologise publicly for his comments or face being sued. "He would have a valid defamation case because it raises doubts about the honour and reputation of a very sensitive issue of Sanches' age," Portuguese libel lawyer Joao Diogo Manteigas said.
Sanches is justifiably bitter about the slanderous stories - after all, he's done nothing to deserve it. "A lot of people disrespected Benfica and myself with those stories," he said last month. "They said Renato wasn't 18, but 22 or 23. I grew up in Portugal I was at Benfica for 10 years - how could I be 25 as some have claimed?"
The issue at play is one of powerful racial prejudices. There have been numerous instances over the past 30 years where African youth teams have been caught fielding overage players. FIFA banned Nigerian youth teams in 1989 for that offence, a South African Under-15 captain was revealed to be 24 years old by a journalist, and in 2010 Senegal withdrew three Under-17 national team players after an MRI scan revealed they were overage.
The common factor here is that all these incidents involve Africans. Why? The answer is a complicated one, with blame falling at the feet of many parties. Sometimes agents and players will play an active role in lying about their age. Sometimes teams will knowingly turn a blind eye to players who look or act older than they claim.
However, sometimes the relative poverty in parts of the continent mean that birth records and school years aren't tracked as well as in Europe and America. Some of the players accused of cheating might not even know themselves that they are older than they are claiming.
But Sanches isn't African and he's never lived in Africa. Like many black men living in Europe, that hasn't stopped others from tarring him with the same prejudice simply because of his skin colour. If there were doubts about Sanches' age they should have been raised in private, rather than leave him with baggage that will creep behind him for the rest of his career.
If anyone argues that Renato Sanches has a case to answer because there is a historical problem with age cheating and black players, then that is clear racism. Such an argument crumbles into a heap when examined. It's like assuming a Muslim man's a terrorist, a black man's a thief, a Jewish man's a crook – these are offensive tropes that are imposed upon millions of people every day without justification and, usually, without consequence.
If you google 'Renato Sanches' today, the first page of results is crammed with stories on this age controversy. It's a sad situation and one consolation is that not everyone in football in stooping to such regrettable depths. When asked if Sanches was indeed 18 years old in Tuesday's pre-match press conference, Wales manager Chris Coleman completely ignored the framing.
"He's a good player," he responded. "I've watched him for some years, playing with Benfica with the younger teams. You never know if these players are going to come through or fall by the wayside. He's really impressed. He has a big heart for the occasion."
..... - Goal