Haren
Former Real Madrid and Brazil defender Marcelo had his contract terminated with his boyhood club Fluminense, with whom he had been playing since 2023, as a result of a bizarre bust-up with his coach Mano Manezes.
The 36-year-old left back was slated to come on in the final minutes of Fluminense’s match with Gremio in the Brazilian league when Manezes was seen giving him instructions. The defender is seen seemingly refusing the tactical talk, as a result of which Manezes decided not to bring him on and argue with him in full public view.
“I was going to bring Marcelo in at that time, but I heard one thing that I did not like and I changed my mind,” Menezes said at a press conference, per AP. “He wasn’t going in to solve any problem for us, he was stepping in to let us keep what we had (on the scoreboard). It was just two, three minutes to the end.”
I have never seen anything similar in elite football.
Fluminense manager Menezes ready to sub on Marcelo, giving him a tactical talk, to which Marcelo seems saying no.Menezes gets furious pushing him back on the bench and doesn’t sub him on anymore pic.twitter.com/ortw0nissD
— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) November 2, 2024
The next day, the club released a statement claiming the two parties had separated through mutual agreement: “The institutional and emotional bonds between Fluminense and Marcelo remain untouched. The athlete’s name was recently immortalized at the Xerém training center stadium. Fluminense thanks Marcelo and will continue, as always, to support his success in all his challenges.”
Marcelo returned to Fluminese, his first club before he moved to Madrid at the age of 18 in 2006, last year and won the Rio de Janeiro state championship and the Copa Libertadores titles.
The left back is now available as a free agent in the twilight of his career at the age of 36. He is yet to comment on the affair.
