ALFREDO MORELOS has done most of his talking on the park since joining Rangers. It was time, then, that fans heard from him directly.
The Colombian has scored his way into the hearts of the Ibrox crowd, but few know much about the journey that has taken him from the small town of Cerete to a Glasgow, and surely beyond in the summer.
His story was put into his own words on Thursday in a video titled ‘Soy Alfredo’ on the official Rangers website. For the first time, there was a chance to learn about Morelos’ remarkable story, to hear of his struggles and his motivations in life and football.
His tale is an inspirational one in many ways, but it is tinged with tragedy.
Morelos’ past will continue to inspire him in the here and now, and the future on and off the park.
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“My family supports me very unconditionally, they always give me that motivation, that love, to do things better every day,” Morelos said. “The love of my parents, my sisters, it makes me proud to be doing what I’ve been doing so far.
“I promised my mother, I had a little sister who died and I promised her too, and well, thanks to God I’ve left, we’ve gone through some hurdles we’ve fallen and thanks to God I’ve been smart, had a positive attitude.
“I promised it to my mother, and thanks to God we’re okay now. My little sister was a very big motivation for me. I told my mother that I would take care of them, because we were a very poor family there in Colombia, in Cerete. Since my little sister died, I told my mother one day ‘I’m going to take care of you and my whole family’. And thanks to God, now we are doing really well.
“I always talk to my wife and my parents and now everything has changed a lot since I arrived, since I started at Deportivo Independiente Medellin. I was in the national team in Colombia. Now I’ve managed to get to European football, thanks to God everything has worked and has happened in the best possible way.
“Now I am in this great institution, where everything is really working out for me.”
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The support that Morelos has received at Ibrox has made a profound impact on the 22-year-old but he clearly cherishes those that helped him take his first steps.
He still keeps in contact with the coach and president of his first club, while his start at Independiente Medellin means a lot to Morelos, as do his country and his faith.
“I’m very happy about all those people that support me,” he said. “Cerete is a very small town, and honestly everyone knows each other very well. And well, thanks to God, everyone knows me and supports me even too much! They always have a good opinion of me and of who I am.
“I’m very happy to be making Cerete known, I’m very proud of my town and also of Colombia. My family is very proud of me, honestly, my mother, my father, they cry, they cry watching me play.
“My parents were here, they know now how it is, the atmosphere here and more so now seeing it themselves. It’s something that they feel very proud of, of their son, because I do it with a lot of love for them too.
“I’m happy, I’m happy to make my family very happy. Now I’m enjoying the everyday of what I do, enjoying my actions, my career, and yeah, happy about it all."
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The ‘Morelos Story’ film puts his words over footage of one of his finest performances of the season as he scored four goals in the victory against Kilmarnock at Ibrox.
Showings like that have been rewarded on the international stage in recent weeks and after earning his second cap against Japan, new boss Carlos Quieroz handed Morelos his first start in the friendly with South Korea on Tuesday morning.
“The dream of all Colombian players is to come and play in Europe, that was my biggest dream since I started this process as a professional athlete,” Morelos said. “I wanted to do things well with Deportivo Independiente Medellin because they were a club that opened doors for me, for my career, and it gave me the opportunity to play.
“I’m so thankful to them and I enjoyed the continuity with them, they gave me a lot of continuity, the chance to play full games and to play every weekend, or even midweek.
“Since I started, they called me ‘The Buffalo’, because of that aspect of my play, because I hold the ball well, because I was a tough player. I’ve stuck with the nickname and everything I do on the field is because of that.
“I’m a tough player, I like playing in the air, I like clashing, I like frustrating the defence. No one can faze me, I’m the kind of player that is always dedicated to my team and I fight for my team.”
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Those attributes have often seen Morelos come in for criticism as a line has been crossed and his disciplinary record has been repeatedly marked.
The negatives that his detractors regularly point to are dwarfed by the positives that Gerrard and the Ibrox crowd see, however.
Morelos may well be in the final weeks of his Rangers career and Gerrard will have a choice to make come the summer if the interest in his star striker materialises into a bid that could prove too tempting to reject.
“My main trait has always been humility, humility is what takes one to the top,” Morelos said. “Having humility, being a humble person, is amazing for one’s personal life.
“It takes one to the top, humility, and it’s something that defines me. It’s something that I prove on the pitch, with my fans, with everyone. That humility shows and I like going down that path.
“That’s how my career is going to be, for as long as God allows, being a humble player, dedicated to my fans, to the people who support me and it’s great that they can feel it.
“Right now I’m focused on Rangers, to keep adding, to keeping doing things right, and in the long term to be with my national team, to be fixed with the Colombian national team, and hopefully things will work out in the best way.”
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