Opinion – PVC: European final should have more Brazilians than Spaniards and English

The likely lineups of the unmissable final of the Champions League, this Saturday (28), Liverpool vs Real Madrid, have 14 nationalities, five Brazilians, three French, two Spaniards and two English.

If the formations are confirmed, it will be the first time in history that Brazil will have the largest number of holders in a Champions League final. There was already a tie, in 2018, also between Liverpool and Real Madrid, when there were three Brazilians, three English and three Spaniards.

Liverpool were the last European champions without a Brazilian in the squad. Milan, by Dida, Cafu and Kaká, won in the Istanbul decision in 2005, 17 years ago.

The last final with no player eligible for the Brazilian national team was the 1999 final between David Beckham’s Manchester United and Effenberg’s Bayern.

Élber, a native of Londrina, the Bavarian team’s top scorer in the German Championship that season, was injured. It was embezzlement.

In the 21st century, there was no Champions League final without a Brazilian on the field. But there have been no Spaniards, no Italians, no English, no Germans, no French.

It is incredible to see the record of Brazilians in the midst of the five-time world champion football crisis. It is repeated that we do not have more protagonists. What happens with English and Spanish, then, if the preview has only two Spaniards, Carvajal and Thiago, and two English, Alexander-Arnold and Henderson. And look at that Thiago is Brazilian, born in Italy, despite being selectable Spanish.

It is important to emphasize: it is not a question of using this data in a boastful way. It’s about trying to understand why Brazil refuses to host one of the most important championships on the planet with so many special players.

This week, Benzema declared that it was a mistake not to include Vinicius Junior in the list of the best players in the world. At 21 years old, the ace raised in Flamengo is the leader of goal passes in the Champions League.

But, no, the Champions is not the best Brazilian Championship in the world, despite having so many players born here. The culture of the game is increasingly theirs. While we keep asking why our teams don’t have 10 shirts anymore, whether it’s a striker, like Zico, or a point guard, like Ademir da Guia, Jürgen Klopp teaches that there is no 10 like “gegenpressing”, pressure to steal the ball in the attack and go towards the goal.

Klopp is pop. Watching one of his press conferences is like seeing a character mixed up between Felipão and Vítor Pereira. It is possible to laugh with an amusing remark as in a “stand up” and, at the same time, drink from the content of tactical explanations.

Klopp is on the transformers team, like Guardiola. Ancelotti, a vanity administrator. Kaká considers him the best of those he worked with, for his ability to get the most out of each of his stars.

Despite being conservative, Ancelotti tried to be a revolutionary. His dissertation for graduating from the coaching school in Coverciano, Italy dealt with attacking moves in 4-4-2. He thought of being offensive. And it was, to the point of becoming Premier League goalscorers, with Chelsea scoring 103 goals, the 2010 champions, before Guardiola’s City broke the mark in 2018 (106 goals).

The stars are Brazilians, the strategists, Europeans.

In hyperbole, it is as if football were a game thought up by Europeans and executed by Brazilians. The classics of the Brasileirão will have two European coaches. The European final should have more Brazilians than Spaniards and English, in Real Madrid vs Liverpool.