Julio spoke for almost an hour with the Audio Country Manager of Flashscore in Brazil, Ricardo Oliveira Duarte, in a restaurant in Cascais, in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. Born in Duque de Caxias-RJ, the former goalkeeper chose the Portuguese capital to live in because of its similarities to Rio de Janeiro.
Julio Cesar recalled his beginnings at Flamengo, his favourite team, and told all the details of his "fairytale" at Inter Milan, including his relationship with José Mourinho. He showed a lot of frustration at the Selecao 's failure at the 2010 World Cup and spoke, of course, about everything that went wrong during the 7-1 defeat in 2014 to Germany at the World Cup.
Julio Cesar made 285 appearances for the Brazilian side to start his career, where he made his name before moving to Serie A.
Speaking about the move to Milan, Cesar said: "I left Flamengo with my free pass. My father was talking to Porto, and then Inter Milan came along and showed interest. Obviously, for financial reasons and other situations, Inter's offer ended up being better. But I went in the January window and I didn't have an EU passport, so I counted as a foreign player. Inter gave me the option of going out on loan to a lesser team or staying at Flamengo until June.
"I opted to go to Italy straight away because I wanted to learn the language, the culture and the football of the country, so that I could arrive at Inter better prepared because I knew the competition would be very tough. We were talking about Francesco Toldo, goalkeeper of the Italian national team at the time; Fabian Carini, of the Uruguayan national team. I was going into a competition of giants."
He overcame those challenges in goal to become the number one at Inter and he flourished, winning everything including the Champions League under Jose Mourinho in 2009, something the former Brazilian international described as a fairytale.
He explained: "That was a family I was able to be part of. It was truly incredible, a fairytale. Winning the three most important competitions in the same year... Few teams have achieved that feat, and Inter Milan was one of them.
"Mourinho did a spectacular job in terms of team management, he got all the players rowing in the same direction. It really was a family. There were a lot of big-name players, successful, respected in the world of football. And within the dressing room we managed to ensure that there was no vanity. Anything that went wrong in terms of ego, we stopped."
Asked whether the Portuguese coach got everything out of him, Cesar agreed: "Absolutely. It was his way of working. He would take someone who was having a normal moment and turn them into the best player in their position. I remember at the Champions League awards ceremony, all the players were from Inter. Julio Cesar, best goalkeeper, Maicon, best defender, Sneijder, best midfielder, and Militao, best striker and best player. What more could we want?
What did Mourinho say to you when he arrived at the stadium for the final against Bayern Munich?
It wasn't just the final that was cool about Mourinho. It was the moment we realised we could win all three competitions. I remember a meeting where he was very brief and said: "We have three competitions to win. You choose. He put the responsibility on us. "What I could do, I did, which is to prepare this team to get to where they are now."
It's obvious that he has to prepare the tactics and everything, but in terms of a group, of winning men, already with that inflated confidence... I remember that meeting perfectly. And that's when it all started to make sense.
"...Mourinho was the kind of coach who said to me before the game: 'I need you once or twice a game. And when I need you, you have to be there'.
"I realised how much responsibility I had on my back, because when you play for a team like Inter, when you're a goalkeeper for big teams, you don't have so much work to do. And then when the ball arrives, you have to be ready, otherwise they'll put someone else in your place."
That high-pressure environment continued in Cesar's international career. Playing for Brazil brings a big spotlight on any player, but as a goalkeeper that is only magnified.
Cesar played 85 times for the Selecao over a decade that included four World Cups. He spent much of that time as understudy to Dida, eventually taking the gloves ahead of the 2010 World Cup.
Brazil would fall to eventual finalists the Netherlands, losing 2-1 in the quarter-finals, and a mistake from the keeper brought him under the magnifying glass once more.
Speaking about the mistake, Cesar remembers: "Sneijder puts a ball into the box, and Felipe and I end up on the same ball. We bump into each other, the ball passes through both of us and ends up going in. We conceded not because of the mistake itself, but because of the moment we were experiencing in the game. We were doing very well, the Netherlands weren't doing much.
"After the Netherlands got that goal, the story changed a little, but we were very much in control of the match. That's what saddens me the most.
Goalkeepers at the top level know to hold themselves to account, as Cesar knows, but there is a tinge of regret that his side could not play for the title in South Africa.
He continued: "I'm a very self-critical guy, so I know when I've made a mistake, I hold myself to account and I've never hidden. After that match, I gave an interview to Tino Marcos from Rede Globo.
"I was in a very emotional moment and I had to hold back the emotion because of the elimination. I came into the World Cup as the best goalkeeper in the world, and overconfidence sometimes gets in the way, it ends up being treacherous.
"The team wasn't performing as well as it did in the first half. We were also surprised by Sneijder's second goal from a corner and we were eliminated. That group from the 2010 World Cup was pretty good, you know? That's why it hurts me so much.
"I don't know if we were going to be champions, but that group deserved to play in the final with the cup against Spain."
Four years on and Brazil hosted the 2014 World Cup with Cesar once again the number one for his country, leading to one of the most memorable moments of his career - a penalty shootout win against South American rivals Chile in the round of 16.
"There were 200 million fans with me in that game to take those penalties, from (Mauricio) Pinilla and Alexis Sanchez. That moment was incredible. After we qualified for the quarter-finals, it was a marvellous thing, because that's when the goalkeeper really comes into his own."
Speaking about his feelings after the shootout win, he remarked: "(There was) a lot of joy and a lot of relief too, because playing in the World Cup is already a pressure, imagine playing in Brazil in front of your own fans? The Mineirao was packed and when you get through, for everyone in the group, and the fans too... Because the World Cup is a marvellous event. It was every possible feeling: emotion, relief, joy, happiness. I was thinking about my family too, because family members suffer with us."
That joy did not materialise into glory, however, as Cesar saw seven German goals go past him in the semi-final, leading to heartbreak for him as well as those 200 million Brazilians.
He reflected: "Just when you're at your peak, what happened to Germany happens soon afterwards. For those involved in that game - players, coaches, staff - it's the most difficult moment, professionally speaking.
"I'm not going to say it was like a wake, because you can't compare football with the loss of a loved one, but it's complicated. Playing in a semi-final in Brazil, losing 5-0 and coming back for the second half. There was a lot of silence in the dressing room. Thiago Silva, who captained the team and couldn't be on the pitch, started trying to get the crowd going, but it was really difficult.
"Germany were playing great football, everything was falling into place. We didn't find ourselves in that game, that's the truth."
Cesar would return to his boyhood club of Flamengo in 2018, playing just one league game before hanging up his gloves. He was in the stands as they won the 2019 Copa Libertadores title and now lives in Lisbon, Portugal.