Cuca alleges family problems and resigns from Atlético-MG

Cuca is no longer the coach of Atlético-MG. Champion of the Brazilian Championship, a title that the Belo Horizonte club had not won for 50 years, of the Copa do Brasil and the Minas Gerais Championship in 2021, the 58-year-old coach told the board of directors of the Minas Gerais team on Monday (27) that he had family problems and asked to leave command of the team. He would also have committed not to train any teams in 2022.

The information, published first by Itatiaia radio, was confirmed to leaf by businessman Rubens Menin, investor in the club.

“He sat with us, he has a lot of respect for us. We also respect Cuca a lot. He had a contract for another year, but he asked to leave and we accepted. The meeting took place yesterday, around 5:00 pm. Cuca had already told us he was there. with problems and about this possibility. It didn’t surprise us. I prefer not to express what the problems are in order to preserve it,” he said.

Cuca, considered one of the greatest coaches in the history of the club from Minas Gerais, led the team in its two most successful seasons, 2013 and 2021.

He has a recent history of, for reasons beyond performance, asking to step down in charge of teams after doing good work. In a recent interview with Folha, the coach addressed this point. “I often hear this: ‘Cuca doesn’t do long-term work, it’s difficult to stay with the clubs.’ [então no Atlético-MG] eight months ago and I managed to make history, but each one has a way of being. There are times, of course, when I need to regenerate too,” he said.

At Atlético-MG, in 2013, after beating the Libertadores, the coach chose not to go on to the following season, when he went to coach Shandong Luneng, from China.

In December 2016, he also claimed personal issues to leave the command of Palmeiras. He had won the Brazilian Nationals, a title the São Paulo team hadn’t had for 22 years. The coach returned to the club shortly afterwards, in May 2017, but the second spell was not good and lasted only five months.

The following year, he took over at Santos, then in the relegation zone at the Brazilian Nationals, in August, and improved the team’s performance, which finished in tenth place. At the end of the championship, he chose to leave the command of the São Paulo team to undergo surgery.

Last year, he returned to the club, which was in a bad financial situation, banned from hiring new athletes, and took him to the Libertadores final. At the end of the season, he also chose not to renew and said the club needed administrative improvements.