Yago Cariello was born in 1999 in Rio de Janeiro, the same city that produced footballing talents such as Ronaldo o fenomeno and Adriano o imperador. These two legendary Brazilians would go on to ravage defenders and score endless goals thanks to their enviable physiques and the power and accuracy of their shooting.
Yago Cariello certainly aspires to be a similar mould of striker with strength, pace and a net-bursting shot. PortuGOAL profiles the 23-year-old Brazilian who has battled along a tough career pathway to Portugal’s top flight and is now making waves at Algarve club Portimonense.
First football steps
Yago started his football journey with America Football Club based in Rio. He played in the youth teams until 2018 when Vasco da Gama gave him an opportunity to play for one of the biggest teams in Brazil. However, Yago struggled to get a game for their youth side and in 2019 he returned on loan to America FC.
Cariello ended his contract with Vasco da Gama at the beginning of 2020 and signed for Tupynambás who play in the Minas Gerais division, a regional league in the 5th tier of Brazilian football. It was a big step down but Yago needed a change.
Venturing over the Atlantic
A bigger change came later that same year as Yago switched continents coming to Portugal, with Condeixa seeing the talent he had and bringing him over from Brazil. At first he struggled to adapt to the change in scenery and weather but this would not blunt his dream of succeeding in European football. After 11 games without a goal, he scored 3 in 5 and finished the season with 4 goals from 980 minutes of football.
Soon after this move, União de Santarém snapped him up to play in the newly formed Liga 3. It seemed Yago was still adjusting to living in a different country away from his family and he once again struggled to make an instant impact. However, his quality was undeniable. Having failed to score in his first 4 games for the first team, Yago was given a game for the U20 team where he would score 6 goals in one match. This caught the attention of manager André David who took Yago under his wing.
With no driving license, Yago complained that he rarely saw the sun spending so many hours a day travelling between his home and the training ground in the club’s van.
André David sought to make Yago feel more at home. As well as making sure he received regular letters and messages from his family back in Brazil, he also started to take him to watch Santarém youth team games during the week.
With André David’s attentiveness and starting to feel more at home, Yago began to score with 8 goals in 7 games including Liga 3’s first “póquer” – four goals consisting of a header, a right-foot shot, a left-foot shot, and a penalty with his favoured left foot. He finished the season as fourth top scorer in Liga 3 and had certainly announced himself to Portuguese football.
Cariello’s big break at Portimonense
Portimonense acted quickly and secured Yago’s signature this May before their 2021/22 season had even finished. In preseason Yago was thrown straight in and helped the Algarve club beat both Sporting and Braga in friendlies behind closed doors. Scoring after just three minutes against Sporting and securing a win with Portimonense’s second goal against Braga, Yago showed manager Paulo Sérgio that he was more than ready to make the jump from Liga 3 to the Primeira Liga.
Despite having signed Honduran striker and proven top flight goal scorer Bryan Rochez as well in the summer, Paulo Sérgio was impressed enough with Yago to start him in all three league games this season. His faith has paid off and Yago currently has two goals in three games for Portimonense
His first goal, in Portimonense’s second game against Paços de Ferreira, was a header dinked over the keeper after he peeled off from the defenders with good movement to get in behind. His second, a winner against Vitória, was also a header, this one however was a bullet beautifully directed into the top corner. These are types of goals Yago has scored several times in Portugal now and showcase his intelligence at finding space and timing his runs.
Celebration controversy
It would be wrong of me to write about Yago Cariello and to not mention his celebration against Vitória that has now been seen millions of times around the world. After scoring a late winner, Yago ran to the corner flag, picked it up and proceeded to mime machine-gunning the Vitória fans.
Yago Carriello celebrates scoring the winner for Portimonense by grabbing the corner flag and pretending to shoot the Vitória fans the absolute mad man 😭
— Long Ball Futebol Podcast (@LongBallFutebol) August 21, 2022
I swear to god. This is the greatest league in the world 😭😂#FutebolComTalento pic.twitter.com/IIJtHWtRhz
After the game Yago said “Today, we all exceeded ourselves, but I didn’t machine-gun the Vitória fans, who I respect. I just had a reaction to the racists who spit and cursed my teammates in a prejudiced way.”
It was a bold message to make in his debut season and one I admire along with all the other brave decisions he’s made throughout his career.
Terminating his contract at Vasco da Gama, moving to Portugal at a very young age, and never losing the belief he clearly has in himself when things weren’t going well.
What next?
Portimonense have a knack for finding talented strikers from the lower leagues. Two seasons ago it was Beto and last season it was Wilinton Aponza. Beto was brilliant throughout 2020/21, earning a move to Serie A with Udinese. Aponza however, faded away into obscurity after a good start to last season.
Whether Yago will follow the path of Beto or Aponza is perhaps too early to say, but I think we have a very talented, very determined young striker on our hands who has all the attributes to be a top striker in this league.
by Barney Carter-Phillips
Fact File
Name: Yago Cariello Ribeiro
Date of birth: 27 July 1999 (23 years old)
Place of birth: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Position: Striker
Previous clubs: America-RJ, Vasco da Gama, Tupynambás (in Brazil) | Condeixa, U. Santarém, Portimonense (in Portugal)
Current club: Portimonense
2022/23 stats: 3 Games, 270 Mins, 2 Goals
Related: Long Ball Futebol Podcast: Jornada 3 - You don’t get this in the Eredivisie…
Related: Portimonense 2-1 Vitória report and highlights
