The party for the presentation of the Brazilian champion’s cup to the Atlético-MG fans would not have been complete if Hulk, the team’s top scorer for the season and Nacional’s striker, hadn’t scored his goal on such a special day for the Atleticans.
The striker, who started the duel against Red Bull Bragantino on the bench, took the field in the final stage and left his mark on minute 43, with a subtle touch over goalkeeper Cleiton, to mark the fourth of the Minas Gerais team.
The victory of the team from Cuca by 4 to 3 crowned the celebration of the more than 60 thousand who attended the Mineirão to celebrate the title, guaranteed in the previous round, against Bahia, in Salvador.
For Hulk, in addition to the possibility of celebrating the conquest with the fans of Atlético-MG, the goal in front of the São Paulo team made him surpass the mark of the top scorers in the last edition of the Brazilian.
In the 2020 season of Nacional, Claudinho, of Red Bull Bragantino, and Luciano, of São Paulo, ended up tied in the artillery, with 18 goals. Hulk already has 19, in addition to also adding more participations in the ball in the net.
With seven assists in the championship, the Atletico forward registers direct participation in 26 goals for the team in the 35 matches he played – an average of 0.74 per game.
Claudinho, who also achieved expressive numbers with Bragantino in the previous Brazilian Nationals, participated in 25 goals in 35 games (18 scored by himself and seven assists) – an average of 0.71 per match.
Luciano, who had the same number of balls in the net as Claudinho, distributed three assists, counting a direct participation in 21 goals in the 33 clashes in which he played for São Paulo in the tournament – an average of 0.63 per duel.
It is unlikely that Hulk will play in the last round of the Brazilian Championship, on Thursday (9), against Grêmio. That’s because the team from Cuca has the first game of the Brazil Cup final on Sunday (12), against Athletico, in Belo Horizonte.
Anyway, even if the striker participates in the duel with the Gauchos in the final round and does not score goals or provide assists, he will still end the competition with a better direct participation average than Claudinho, with 0.72 decisive move per game .
“Everything depends on the player’s trust. When we are confident, everything becomes easier. That’s why we have to work daily. I work a lot on submissions with our goalkeepers, who help us a lot, to get to the games , be that cool and make the best decisions,” said Hulk, after the triumph over Red Bull Bragantino.
On Sunday (5), in celebration of the title, the cup was given to the players by the athletic idol Dario, Dadá Maravilha, top scorer of the 1971 Brazilian Nationals, the first conquered by Atlético-MG.
In addition to Dadá, Reinaldo, also a goalscorer and an idol at the club, was also present at Mineirão.
National champion and the team’s main highlight in the campaign, Hulk becomes one of these characters in the list of great strikers in Athletic history, protagonist of a trophy that the fan has been waiting for for 50 years.
“We have to respect the guys, right? They deserve a lot of respect for the history they made in a great club, which is Atlético-MG. And we are also infected by also writing a little of our history in this book”, stated the striker, who could end the season with another title.
“I’m very happy. It was very gratifying for me this year 2021, to return to Brazil after more than 16 years. And to be able to end the year like this, winning the Brazilian. We still have the Copa do Brasil”, added the striker, who is also the top scorer in the knockout tournament, with six goals.
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