Murillo is far too modest and polite to let me drag me over Nottingham Forest, the Champions League or even links to Real Madrid, but this pious religious superstar knows that something divine is happening.
“As every match passes, the competition becomes more difficult, and this series of competitions is decisive,” says 22-year-old Brazilian at the beating heart of Forest's defense, who is now the hottest young center in world football.
“I think the team responded well. We try to follow what the manager teaches us and the results have come.
“Whether we reach the Champions League or not, I prefer not to look too far ahead and believe that the next game is always the most important of the season.”
While he speaks with Mail Sport, that next game could actually be the most important of the season, because the champions visit the East Midlands with a Champions League place on the line.
Nottingham Forest versus Manchester City is now third versus fourth in the Premier League, a scenario that few would have presented before this season and a reminder of Murillo that things change quickly.
“That's why I don't like talking about the future,” he says. 'But I always think positively and trust that the work is being done by my coach and our group.
'We prepare hard all season, especially not just for the big competitions. At first I hope that no player is injured – then I hope we will win. '
Forest is a point above the city with Chelsea in the fifth one point away. The fifth could be good enough this season for a place in the European Cup, a match in the soul of this club. After all, they are the only club that has won more often than their own domestic competition.
Even after a recent Wiebel of one win in five, this is far away from the 16th placed finish, they reached the summer that they signed Murillo of Corinthians, when he had only 27 senior performances in his name and Forest still had to fight against the accusations of Chamberikaze transfer expenditure after signing 30 players after.
But those decisions have paid off, and here are forests now. So instead of being dragged along with the prospect of where this season could lead, Murillo puts his confidence in those above him – manager Nuno Espirito Santo and a board led by owner Evangelos Marinakis.
“I believe that our results are a reflection of the choices that the board has made in the past,” he says. “We have a coach and his technical team that understand the individual characteristics of each athlete, and of course the power of our fans who are always very present.”
Those fans love Murillo. They voted him as their player of the year last season and in January he reimbursed their faith by extending his contract until 2029. Real Madrid and Chelsea belong to the clubs who want to make this squat, the struggle hardened warrior of them, but that is not something that he wants him to be influenced.
“I understood that when I arrived here, when I was signed, people didn't know me so well,” he says. “And because I had played very little with Corinthians.
'My agent explained to me that my signing was a gamble that Nottingham Forest was assuming, and that I had to prove them every day that this gamble would be worth it.
'And when I started playing and standing out, the team helped and earn my place, I felt that this contract renewal was a kind of recognition for everything that happened.
“It's a gratifying thing for me, because it is a reflection that I am doing well.”
A new reflection came this week, when he was mentioned this month in the Brazil team for crucial world cup qualifications against Colombia and Argentina this month.
The five-fold world champions have struggled so far and were fifth after 12 of the 18 matches but thanks to the extensive 48 team tournament next summer, they are little danger next summer. Six of the 10 South American teams automatically qualify and one seventh a play-off lifeline is handed over.
Murillo had a first taste of the Selecao in November, when he was called in the team and acted twice as an unused replacement, but now is ready for more. He is one of the 10 Premier League players in the team of Dorival Junior and will fight Arsenal's Gabriel Magalhaes for the left-sided middle rear role.
“Being called up for the Brazilian national team is not just a dream,” he says. 'For us Brazilians it is much more than that.
'It carries the shirt of the most successful national team in history. And that has a lot of weight and meaning. It is not easy to describe that feeling in words.
'The expectation of a call-up is a mix of feelings and reflections for me. There is anticipation, there is gratitude, there is pride and there is a lot of emotion.
'It lets me look back on the past, everything I have experienced to get here, and it also makes me look to the future. Representing my country is a source of pride for me. '
Murillo Santiago Costa Dos Santos was born in Sao Paulo Four days after the last World Cup victory of Brazil, in 2002.
He is the modern central defender and with enormous skills, including a magical left foot that goes around everywhere.
“Futsal allowed me to learn the skills that I can use on the field,” he says. 'I have always tried to absorb as much as possible from the teachings that all my coaches have passed on to me, and come to Europe has helped me even more.
'Coming here and have access to this kind of tactical and technical knowledge that England has given me, I know it has been fundamental for my development.
'In the Youth Academy at Corinthians I played in a few other functions. I played as a defensive midfielder and also as left behind. It was part of the daily routine for improvising and playing in other positions and roles. '
He started his career when he was six by playing Futsal with his father, Fabio, who died when Murillo was 10.
His mother Rosa who took the reins of his process as a football player and even left her job to accompany him. Murillo is forever grateful for what she did.
“Every player, when they reach a higher level, wants to give the best to his family,” he once said. 'But for her I want to get in one place and say:' Choose what you want, eat what you want. 'It's the best of the best, she deserves it for everything she has done in my life.
'I love my mother, I will always bring her to places. She is part of the chatter, everyone says that. She arrives, looks at the players and says, “I'm Murillo's mother, can I take a picture?” '
Fabio always dreamed that his son would play for Corinthians, a vision that came out when he came to them in 2019 from Uniao Barbarense, a regional team in the state of Sao Paulo.
He was promoted to the senior squadron in early 2023 after the lead role in the Copa Sao Paulo de Futebol Junior, the largest youth tournament in Brazil and responsible for the rise of Lucas Moura, Casemiro, Marquinhos, Lucas Paqueta and Real Madrid Wunderkind Endrick.
It is worth remembering that his debut of Corinthians came only four months before Nottingham Forest took their 'gamble' on him, a 2-0 victory against Third Remo in the Copa do Brasil in April 2023. A hundred twenty-seven days later, at the age of 21, he was on his way for £ 10.3.
Murillo lives in a residential area outside Nottingham with his wife Mabili Coladello Santiago, who is five months pregnant with their first child, a girl. He is funny and focused. He is a tendency not to be out of his house and enjoys playing dominos and cards with his friends, club colleagues and family.
There are also some video games, in which his Forest teammate and countryman Danilo are a rival. He also takes daily one-on-one lessons to improve his English, even though he is shy to show it on video or interviews.
He lists the former Chelsea defender and Brazil captain Thiago Silva as his idol, and former Corinthians teammate Gil as his inspiration.
And despite the interest of some of the largest clubs in Europe, Murillo believes that he has a considerable space to improve as a player. “I think the kind of training we have here helps me to improve physically,” he says. 'I try to follow a training routine in combination with rest time and a good diet.
'I follow the Technical Team program 100 percent. I train daily to play a good role in my club and I think that called to Brazil is a result of that work.
“That is why I try to improve and devote myself more and more every day.”
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