Fluminense 3-1 Athletico PR
Portugal U19 international Marcos Paulo was the star of the show on Saturday night as Fluminense beat Athletico Paranaense 3-1 at Maracanã Stadium in the Campeonato Brasileiro.
The 19-year-old, who has represented Portugal at international youth level since April last year, enjoyed by far his most productive evening in Brazil’s top flight, scoring twice as well and registering an assist while displaying great positional variation.
Marcos Paulo started the night playing as something of a false no9 in coach Odair Hellman’s 4-2-2-2 system, alongside veteran forward Nene in the frontline. During the second half, the Seleção youngster was moved to more of a left-sided attacking role, which led to him scoring a brace to turn the match in Flu’s favour after a long period with the game tied at 1-1.
The match got off to a frustrating start for Fluminense, who went behind after just ten minutes when Leo Cittadini struck for Athletico. Nenê then missed from the penalty spot, but Marcos Paulo was on-hand to help level the scores on 26 minutes by setting up Nene for a simple finish from close-range.
Speaking after the match, Marcos Paulo revealed he had spoken to Nene about the spot-kick miss immediately after the failed attempt. “I told him he would go on to score two goals. Thank God, I was able to assist him and then I scored two,” said the forward, who could easily have had another assist when setting up Michel Araujo for a good opening.
A first-half red card for Athletico’s Heleno led to the visitors retreating in the hope of holding onto a point, and the score remained level at 1-1 until the 73rd minute when Marcos Paulo took over. His first came from a corner, with the ball landing at the back post to allow enough time and space for a touch and a rasping right-foot shot which flew past Santos in the Athletico goal.
Two minutes later and the game was made safe, with Marcos Paulo producing superb individual effort. This time receiving possession from a corner on the edge of the box, the Seleção prospect skipped past his marker before opening up his body to sidefoot a neat finish across Santos and into the far bottom corner.
Exciting stuff from Brazilian football as Portuguese U20 international striker Marcos Paulo scores twice late on to give Fluminenese a 3-1 win over Athletico Paranaense pic.twitter.com/42neD2aEro
— Sean Gillen (@SeanGillen9) December 6, 2020
“I am very happy to be able to help Fluminense again, to score again, which is very important,” Marcos Paulo continued during his post-match interview. “I was able to assist Nenê as well, who had missed the penalty. Now we need to focus, keep working, rest, celebrate this victory. Next Sunday we’ll play a classico (against Vasco) and we have to prepare.”
Flu boss praises impact
Fluminense boss Odair Hellmann was asked about Marcos Paulo’s best position after the match. “He can play in both those roles (false 9 and wide) perhaps with a little more difficulty to play centre forward. He has the characteristic of coming between the lines, finding the space to receive this pass and making the play. He is not that guy who, when he plays 9, will fight over the aerial ball, the first ball. He does not have this characteristic.
“Of course, when you score two goals in a match, such an important match, it ends up drawing all that attention. But he had played great games before, today he played one more. He is a young player with great potential. He has a very large margin of growth. He will evolve a lot."
By Sean Gillen
