Kerolin joined Manchester City from North Carolina Courage in January and last week showed everyone exactly why she made the move. On the biggest stage in European football, the Champions League, the Brazilian produced the performance of her City career so far to help set up a 2-0 quarter-final first leg win against Chelsea.
Kerolin was a constant thorn in Chelsea’s side throughout the game and provided the assist for one of Vivianne Miedema’s two goals to set up a tantalising scoreline before the return leg at Stamford Bridge on Thursday.
“I’m really happy,” the 25-year-old says. “The team played well and we were all having a good day, so that made it much easier for me to feel light and calm for a special night in the Champions League”. One assist in a Champions League quarter-final was never, however, going to be enough for the fiercely competitive and ambitious forward, and she followed that up by scoring against Chelsea in City’s 2-1 Women’s Super League defeat against the reigning champions.
After three years in North Carolina, Kerolin felt she needed a new challenge. “I have this big dream of being the best player in the world and of becoming a world champion,” she says. “I knew being in Europe could help me get more visibility globally because all the players who win the Fifa The Best awards are either in England or Spain. I think life is meant for dreaming so I moved here with the purpose of challenging myself.”
Kerolin goes on to describe her move to City as a way to keep her on her toes. “Playing against and with players who challenge me every day in training means that if you don’t work hard and don’t stay focused, you won’t play,” she says. “The players at City are very good.”
Kerolin’s past two years have been full of ups and downs. She went from being the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League most valuable player to sustaining a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament tear immediately after the Women’s World Cup. She then returned to the Brazil national team in time to grab silver at the 2024 Olympics. At the end of that year, she also had a decision to make.
“I was uncertain about whether I should stay another year in the US, if I wanted to play there for one more year after my ACL injury before moving back to Europe,” Kerolin, who played for Madrid CFF in 2021, says.
“City was a team whose style of play really surprised me. It is also interesting that their style of play is very similar to the way my club in the US played. Our coach there really liked the way City played, so he kind of mirrored that. This, in a way, has made the adaptation process a little easier.”
Settling in at City has been more straightforward on the pitch than off it, Kerolin admits with a smile, with the weather in the north of England something she has very much had to get used to. “It really got to me in the beginning,” she says. “When I was called up for training in Brazil I wanted to set off fireworks. I said, ‘I need some sun!’.
“I actually thought I was prepared because I was in the US and it’s also cold there, right? But it’s nothing compared to Manchester. It’s very cold here [for me]. But I came here with a purpose so that is just another obstacle I have to go through to reach my goal.”
A lot has happened since Kerolin arrived in England. City have fallen 15 points behind Chelsea in the WSL after losing to their rivals on Sunday. Prior to that the manager, Gareth Taylor, had also been replaced by Nick Cushing, while one of her teammates, Khadija Shaw, was subjected to horrific racial abuse after a game against Arsenal.
Kerolin has been the subject of similar abuse and says she tried to support Shaw as best as she could even though they had not had much time as teammates together. “It really affected me, especially when I was with the Brazilian national team,” she says. “After a while I realised that the people who criticised and insulted me didn’t know what I was going through. They would be the same ones who later wanted to praise me and say good things. So I decided that [what they said] was irrelevant. The most important thing is for the coach, us, and our team to know how we really are. You can’t be 100% perfect every day, so after I understood that, it became easier.
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“It’s really important for the player to feel supported, for people in the club to be empathetic and take it seriously. Khadija didn’t play the next game [and it was important for her to decide]. The main thing was how she was feeling, her recovery and making sure that she felt OK. This was a good example of how clubs should protect players and not just think about results. The wellbeing of the players is more important.”
Brazil will host the next Women’s World Cup in 2027 and Kerolin is desperate for her country to have a successful tournament, on and off the pitch. “Brazilian football is about talent,” she says. “It’s football from the outside, street football. Every time people ask me about Brazil, they want to know about the carnival, the parties and things like that. But going to Brazil and getting to know our culture will give them a different perspective. Brazil is talented and not only that, the food is amazing – I’ve been everywhere and it’s hard to beat.
“I think that, when other players have been to Brazil for the World Cup, they will look at us differently, understanding our culture, and respecting the country in a new way.”
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