Corinthians suffered six balls on the post last Wednesday night (29) in order to pass by Estudiantes and reach the semifinals of the Copa Sudamericana. The massacre suffered by the team from São Paulo drew several criticisms, including from the club’s idol Marcelinho Carioca, who, in a video on social networks, attacked coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo and reignited an old fight between the two.
“Those who watched the game saw that the first half was the chainsaw massacre. Estudiantes ran over, messed up and wrecked Luxembourg’s tactical scheme. Cowardly, omissive, fearful. (…) The person who most harmed Corinthians football was the coach, who is retrograde, outdated. Who will arrive at the press conference and invent situations or words, say that he classified. Ranked, but was it deserved? No. It has to be correct and honest”, shot the alvinegro idol.
Marcelinho’s harsh comments recall a previous fight between the former player and the coach. In January 2007, during the extinct program Por Dentro da Bola, by Band, Luxemburgo attacked “Pé de Anjo” with several curses and even accusations from the period when he was still an athlete.
“I don’t enjoy being friends with Marcelinho Carioca and I don’t want to be. (…) I won’t let you talk because you’re naughty. You are naughty. I have known you as a citizen for a long time. You’re not worth anything. I’m worth it, they’ve never proved anything against me. You’re naughty, you’re a kid (3x). I took a woman out of her room”, said Vanderlei to Marcelinho live.
The fight is echoed to this day as a meme on the internet. It even led to Marcelinho’s lawsuit against the technician for moral damages.
Even passing the stage, Luxembourg is criticized at Corinthians
The poor performance seen in the match against Estudiantes is not new under Luxembourg. The game had a script very similar to what happened in Morumbi, on August 16, when Corinthians was eliminated by rival São Paulo after losing 2-0 after a tricolor massacre in the first half.
Luxemburgo’s speech in the interviews shows that, for him, this performance is fine and yesterday the strategy worked.
“It worked, we qualified. Wrong is when you don’t get the result. We knew, I was even talking to the players, we have to value this passage to the next phase, because we are facing one of the best teams we’ve played with so far… a lot of quality », commented the coach in the press conference after the game against Estudiantes .
As a result, the work seems to be good: there are only two defeats in the last 16 games, with nine wins and five draws. But, at this moment, the team fights for the bottom in the Brazilian Championship. Alvinegro occupies the 13th place with one less game and is four points behind rival Santos, the 17th. What can make the situation worse in the competition is the derby against Palmeiras this Sunday (3).
The Sudamericana continues as a chance to leave the season with a title. At this moment, Corinthians is waiting for the winner of the confrontation between Fortaleza and América-MG, this Thursday (31), to find out who they face in the semifinals. Leão do Pici has a two-goal lead and may even lose by one, as they won the first leg 3-1.
The semifinals of the continental competition take place in the windows of September 26th to 28th for the first leg and October 3rd to 5th for the second leg.
See Alvinegro’s next games of the season.
- Corinthians x Palmeiras, for the Brazilian Championship – Neo Química Arena – Sunday (03/09), at 4 pm (Brasília time);
- Fortaleza x Corinthians, for the Brazilian Championship – Castelão – Wednesday (9/13), at 7 pm (Brasília time);
- Corinthians x Botafogo, for the Brazilian Championship – Neo Química Arena – Friday (22/09), at 20h (Brasília time).