Credit: Alexandre Vidal / Flamengo
After Flamengo’s elimination from the Libertadores, Gabigol caused controversy by holding his birthday party. Thus, fans were present in Barra da Tijuca to protest against the attacker, something that made Zico come to the player’s defense. In an interview with the Pânico program, on Jovem Pan, the biggest idol of the Rio team highlighted that the athlete has the right to celebrate in his free moments.
Furthermore, Zico highlighted that he dealt with a similar case during his time as a coach. Preaching caution in the aforementioned situation, he made it clear that it is necessary to make coherent decisions and not get carried away by issues off the field.
“Any player has every right to celebrate his birthday. Do you know why? I was once a coach and a similar situation happened with a Brazilian player. He celebrated the party and didn’t arrive at training well. I said: ‘Sleep there and wake up on Saturday to play’. On the day of the match, he didn’t play anything and we lost. Then he left the team and that was it. You make decisions. Gabigol has the right to do whatever he wants. Now, in 2019, we had several parties and dinners… Nobody said anything because they were winning. If you’re going to charge, you have to charge on the field, in training. It’s the board and the technical committee who have to do this.”said Zico.
https://t.co/z13ETzD4cM pic.twitter.com/JrL9ja1EOJ
— Gabriel Barbosa (@gabigol) August 30, 2023
A reserve against Botafogo, Gabigol didn’t even leave the bench in Flamengo’s 2-1 victory. After the classic, Jorge Sampaoli made it clear that the striker, displaced by Pedro in the match, does not have a permanent seat among the starters.
“He is doing well and now he will have to fight for a place. He is a player who is an idol of the club, who is decisive in finals. This type of preparation is good so that internal competition leads us to decide the best team to play.“, stated the Flamengo commander.
