Filed under: UEFA Champions League | Tags: Anderson, Daniel Alves, EC Bahia, European Super Cup, FC Barcelona, Manchester United, Rafael da Silva, Sevilla FC, Sylvinho, UEFA Cup
Four Brazilians have helped Barcelona and Manchester United on their way to the 2009 Champions League final this Wednesday in Rome. But the one who has played more matches among them is exactly the player out of action tonight. Barcelona right wing back Daniel Alves took part in nine matches in the Champions League but picked up a second booking in the second leg of the semifinal against Chelsea and will watch the final from the stands.
“I am happy I helped the team to get to the final, but sad that I will not be on the pitch. I do not think Barcelona will be less stronger without me. It will not change the way our team plays. I am very confident we can win,” says Daniel.
The former EC Bahia and Sevilla FC player has already won three European trophies in his career (two Uefa Cups and one Super Cup with Sevilla). The one missing is the biggest of them all.
“It is not every day a team plays a Champions League final. We are very happy for that and trying to enjoy the moment. Manchester United is a great opponent and has the best player in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo. But Barcelona will show the same football it has played this season. If we have a great game we will be champions.”
Barcelona will have one Brazilian in action this Wednesday, the left-back Sylvinho. Manchester United has right-back Rafael da Silva and midfielder Anderson in its squad for the final.
Filed under: UEFA Champions League | Tags: Alex Ferguson, Anderson, Arsenal, Manchester United, Paul Scholes, Premier League, Seleção
Two seasons at Manchester United, two Champions League finals – and very close to his second Premier League winning medal. Anderson Luís de Abreu Oliveira is just a 21-year-old and is already in the football history books as the most sucessful Brazilian player in English football. He wants more and hopes to achieve that with an extra help from the Red Devils fans.
“We have the possibility to put this squad among Manchester United’s best of all times. We have fantastic fans that will invade Rome to support us in the Champions League final. It is one more dream coming true,” says Anderson.
The week is even more special for the young Brazilian after Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said he can be the new Paul Scholes and chose Anderson ahead of the Man United idol for the Champions League semifinal match against Arsenal in London.
“It is great to know someone like Ferguson admires you. I don’t have enough words to thank him for all he has done for me at Manchester United. About replacing Scholes, it is a great honour to me. I hope I can continue doing what people expect from me. I want to make history in this club,” added the midfielder, also a regular in the Seleção under coach Dunga.
Anderson now says Manchester United will be focused on winning the Premier League trophy as soon as posible. Then, they will just have the Champions League final to worry about.
“We want to concentrate in the European final. We will have time for it and we will be in our best shape. To be able to beat us, our opponent will have to play too well.”
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Filed under: English Premier League, UEFA Champions League | Tags: Arsenal, Denílson
Denílson warms up on the sideline, an unusual scene this season
Bernardo Pires Domingues
Arsenal’s victory over Villarreal last night also marked the first time Brazilian midfielder Denílson has not started a game in this UEFA Champions League campaign.
Denílson is the player with the most starts for Arsenal this season and the Premier League top passer, with a precision rate of nearly 90%. He is also the fifth best midfielder according to the league’s official statistics.
He is yet to win the approval of part of the supporters and some English football analysts argue that the jury is still out on him. Nevertheless, his versatility and effectiveness have been of great service to the side, and recognised by the Arsenal manager, Arsène Wenger.
It is also still unclear whether the Brazilian will maintain his status as an untouchable component in the manager’s system now that the majority of the squad is injury-free. But he has already demonstrated his capacity to adapt.
He started off the season as a holding midfielder, but when Theo Walcott dislocated his shoulder, Denílson was played wide right, while Alex Song took over the more defensive role.
Even with the returns of injured Cèsc Fabregas and Walcott, and the signing of Andrei Arshavin, he was kept on the starting 11 – up until yesterday, when fit again Robin Van Persie was positioned behind the striker and Fabregas was brought back alongside Song.
“The manager told me I was not going to start because of a tactical choice he was making and I respect his opinion. Obviously, everyone wants to play ninety minutes, but it doesn’t happen every time. But I’m OK with this decision he’s taken”, explained Denílson after the game.
Dunga has only selected Denílson for Brazil once, for a friendly against Switzerland in 2006, and the player finished the game as an unused substitute. But the Brazilian coach has been persistently calling up Josué, from German club Wolfsburg, whom he had no problems replacing in the starting side against Italy with a central midfielder that was earning his first cap: Fiorentina’s Felipe Melo.
After all Denílson has done this season, it would seem unfair from Dunga not to consider the midfielder for a call up now in case he loses his regular starter condition.
When I interviewed him for Brazilian Placar magazine in October, he revealed how he almost asked to be loaned to a Brazilian team after the past season, out of frustration for not having the opportunities he expected at the London club. But a holiday period in Brazil and some counselling from his father made him set out two goals for this season – to definitely make it to Arsenal’s first team and to the national squad.
The first one was more than successfully accomplished. With regard to the second the midfielder is in no hurry: “I really want to play for the Seleção, and I’m sure that it will happen someday. I don’t care if it takes long, if it’s close to happening or not. But I will get to the national team”, assures a determined Denílson.
Considering that he is only 21 and has been the captain of the country’s youth team since the under-15 level, he might know what he is talking about.
Filed under: UEFA Champions League | Tags: Alex, Chelsea, Fábio Aurélio, Liverpool, Lucas
Alex runs to score the equaliser
Bernardo Pires Domingues
You know you are before a historic game of football when, besides the main story, you can identify a number of subplots within it. That was precisely the case of last night’s dramatic 4-4 draw between Chelsea and Liverpool. After the game, at the mixed zone, the subplot of my interest was the part played by the Brazilians, who were accountable for nearly half of the eight goals.
Footballers from Brazil playing leading roles in European matches is not something that come as a surprise but it is curious that Fábio Aurélio, Alex and Lucas, who all got on the score sheet on this magic Tuesday, have been overlooked by Brazil and its national team lately.
Fábio Aurélio, the Liverpool left-back, has never won a single cap for the senior squad. Alex used to be frequently called up by Dunga, but has lost some ground for not being a regular starter at Chelsea. Curiously, he may be better off now that Guus Hiddink took over after Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari’s dismissal by the London club as the defender won three consecutive league titles under Hiddink at Holland’s PSV Eindhoven.
And his goal yesterday may shed some light over him again.
“Every time we get free kicks from a longer distance the lads ask me to take them, Lampard told me to take this one. I managed to hit the ball well and it made a curve away from the goalkeeper. It was one of the most beautiful goals in my career, yes”, said Alex.
Lucas (left) leaves the pitch at half time
Lucas has been going through a similar situation. Once a regular feature in Dunga’s squad, he has been dropped by the Brazilian coach after some poor performances and a lack of opportunities in Liverpool’s starting 11. But he played both legs against Chelsea, coming on for Javier Mascherano last week and Steven Gerrard yesterday, and contributed with an assist for Liverpool’s fourth goal against Blackburn on Saturday as a second half substitute.
His performance at Stamford Bridge earned him compliments from boss Rafael Benítez: “Credit to all the players, especially Lucas in the middle in Gerrard’s position”.
The Brazilian admits the national team is still a short-term goal: “I have a huge desire to come back to the Seleção. But there’s no point in me talking a lot about it. I have to fight for my space at the club. You can see the competition is very hard here; there are so many great players.
“This night I played a new role, with more freedom, could play further forward; get close to the box every time. Gerrard has been playing further forward so that he can have the energy to get close to the box. It’s not that simple. Brazilian football is not like English football. I hear some times some people saying I’ve been timid, I’ve forgotten the way I play, but I’ve been gaining my space at Liverpool, this is already my second season and tonight was my tenth Champions League appearance”.
It was also his second goal for the club.
HISTORIC GAMES
Lucas and Alex were asked whether they had been involved in such an epic, thrilling game before. Lucas acknowledged the famous Battle of the Afflicted played in 2005 at the Aflitos (Afflicted in Portuguese) Stadium, in Recife, in the Northeast region of Brazil, as one of them.
Also from his time at Brazilian club Grêmio, he recalled the second leg of the 2007 Rio Grande do Sul State League semi-final, when they beat Caxias 4-0 at home after losing 3-0 away in the first leg.
As for Alex, the defender was keen to point out the Brazilian Serie A final in 2002. Having beaten Corinthians 2-0 in the first leg, his and Robinho’s Santos found themselves 2-1 down six minutes from time in the second leg and at risk of losing the title if they conceded again (Corinthians had a better campaign in the league’s first stage and would be champions if the tie ended up levelled in goal difference).
But then Santos scored twice in the final moments of the game, with Elano and Léo, securing the trophy.
Filed under: English Premier League, UEFA Champions League | Tags: Anderson, Manchester United
Match fit again, Anderson is in Manchester United’s squad for Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final second leg against FC Porto. This will be a special occasion for the Brazilian midfielder, not only because he turned 21 on Monday, but because he will be back to Estádio do Dragão, where he spent two seasons and helped the Portuguese outfit to a League and Cup double in 2006 and the league title in 2007. Such is the importance of FC Porto to his career that Anderson says he would not feel comfortable celebrating a goal in front of the Portuguese fans.
“I have a great respect for the fans, the ones I worked with and all the people that helped me when I was at Porto. If I score, for sure I wouldn’t celebrate. But I feel at home at Estádio do Dragão since it was there I started my career in European football and advancing to the semfinals there will be a great birthday gift.”
After recovering from a thigh injury whilst serving the Brazilian national team, Anderson says he is ready to play 90 minutes, or more, if manager Alex Ferguson needs him to.
“I am hungry to play and I want to help Manchester United to win all trophies. I feel fully fit again and I am ready to help the manager either playing from start or staying on the bench. It was not in our plans to go to Portugal in such conditions but we have a great team and we can get the result we need.”
Another Brazilian included in Man United’s squad is right-back Rafael da Silva, who has also been carrying an injury. One of the most promising of Brazil’s talents, Rafael was nominated this Tuesday for the Professional Footballers’ Association young player of the year award. He is the only nominee not to come from the British Isles and Ireland.
Rafael Maranhão
Givanildo Vieira de Souza, aka Hulk, is the latest example of a promising Brazilian player to break into European football before getting noticed by football fans, and media, in his homeland. The striker has been so influential in FC Porto’s performances so far this season that four of Portugal’s biggest football agents voted him the squad’s most valuable player, worth as much as 43 million US dollars (32,5 million euros).
The four agents were asked by Portuguese newspaper Jornal de Notícias to evaluate both FC Porto and Manchester United teams ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League quarter-final clash at Estádio do Dragão. Cristiano Ronaldo was the obvious choice in the English side, but Hulk’s name does not come as a surprise after he stunned Sir Alex Ferguson and Man United fans in last week’s 2-2 draw at Old Trafford in the first leg. Among the managers who have praised his talent are also Benfica’s Quique Flores, Arsenal’s Arsène Wenger and last but not least Brazilian national team coach Dunga.
Givanildo was given his nickname due to his strenght and resemblance to the comic book hero, and due to the green jersey of Japanese club Verdy Tokyo, where he played for two seasons. He left Brazil as a 15-year-old for trials in Portugal, included a failed one at the same FC Porto where he is a star right now. When 18 he arrived in Japan. Three and a half seasons and 70 goals later he was back to Porto, after the club payed 5,5 million euros for 50% of the playing rights. Despite all the buzz, Hulk tries to keep his feet on the ground and reminds all that he has been playing in European top level for only nine months.
“I feel like never before, this is the best moment of my career. But I know I still have a lot to improve and I want to do that. I have always said I’m no phenomenon and I have just started my career in Europe,” says the striker. When asked about the match against Manchester United, Hulk is not so humble. “We have proven this is a clash with no favourites. We have many talented players and we can face them as equals.”
Beating United will also help Hulk to become more famous in his country. Most Brazilian fans and many football pundits tend to overlook European football and ask for more opportunities to players in the local league. The fact that Dunga has chosen the opposite way and called a lot of foreign-based “unknown” players to the Seleção has made no good to his popularity. Not that the coach seems to care. The curious nickname will not help Hulk either. But so it was when he landed in Portugal last July.
FC Brazil 