The Monza forward, who scored twice in Friday's 2-1 win over Sassuolo, spoke to DAZN after the match and explained why he never followed his father, former Cape Verde international Fernando Varela, onto the defensive side of the game.
"My father was a strong defender, but I was born a striker because I've always been fascinated by the idea of celebrating in front of the curva with the fans."
Varela's finishing was decisive. He headed in a Samuele Birindelli corner on 51 minutes after a mistake by the visiting goalkeeper, then doubled Monza's lead from the penalty spot on 63 after Sebastiano Esposito fouled Dany Mota. Vasilije Adzic scored a late free-kick for Sassuolo, but Monza held on for their first win of the Serie A season.
The Portuguese striker now has six goals in five official matches for Monza, four of them in the league. He scored twice in the 3-0 Coppa Italia win over Avellino on the opening night of Ivan Jurić's reign, and also found the net in the league defeats at Inter (4-1) and against Udinese (3-2).
That helps explain how he assessed his own start.
"I wouldn't have expected such a positive start to the season in terms of scoring, but what matters is to keep going like this until the end. It's going well for me and I'm happy because finally my goals have brought three points to my team."
Until Friday, his goals had not been enough to spare Monza. The newly promoted side had lost both of those league games, and the win lifted them to four points and eased the pressure on Jurić after an uncertain start to the season.
Goalkeeper Noel Törnqvist, on his Serie A debut, also made important saves before Varela struck.
Monza now break for three weeks, and Jurić has said the time will be used to recover several injured players. For Varela, it is a pause he will begin with his goals finally rewarded in the table.