Gaucho, coach with the magic wand
abu dhabi — Gremio are Brazilian powerhouses and known as the ‘King of Cups’. They have now entered the final of the Fifa Club World Cup 2017. However, the Porto Alegre club had faced a trophy drought since 2007. It was the appointment of coach Renato Portaluppi in September last year that helped the club relive the glory of the past years.
The flamboyant Portaluppi, also known as Gaucho, led Gremio to the Copa do Brasil title in 2016 and the Copa Libertadores Cup this year.
Gaucho, thus, also became the first Brazilian to win the Copa Libertadores as a player and a coach.
And players believe the 55-yearold ‘King of Rio’ will help Gremio become the fifth Brazilian team to clinch the Fifa Club World Cup.
Gremio veteran Pedro Geromel said the coach brings in a lot of energy into the team.
“He has an unshakeable selfconfidence. He knows everything there is to know about football. He is always drawing analogies with his own playing career and that makes him a fun person to be around. But it doesn’t mean he isn’t prepared. We know who our rivals are and where they are strong and he has helped us greatly with that,” Geromel noted.
Striker Lucas Barrios, Gremio’s leading goal-scorer this year with 18 goals, said the coach helped boost his confidence.
“By the time you reach the age of 33, you know how you need to do things, but Renato helped me get my confidence back. As a coach, he reminds me of Jurgen Klopp, who asked me to ‘attack by defending’ when I was at Borussia Dortmund. That’s what the modern game is all about — the centre-forward can’t just stand there waiting for the ball to come to him,” Barrios added.
The ‘Gaucho’ effect came to the fore in the semifinal match against Mexican side CF Pachuca with a strong defence formation. It was one magic moment from Everton Soares, which resulted in the solitary winning goal.
The Brazilian winger credited the goal to his coach, who had a game plan. “We saw it in Pachuca’s previous game (against Wydad Casablanca). Their defenders are very tall but they’re slower than us. So, Gaucho knew that he needed the speed of Fernandinho and me. And we managed to get the better of their defence.”
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com