What to expect from Maurício Barbieri as a coach

Announced as new coach of the Athletico, Mauricio Barbieri has a lot to do when it comes to team performance. Relegated after a terrible campaign in the Brasileirão return, Furacão begins a new project to gain access in 2025.

The main news with Barbieri’s announcement is the break in attempts to train coaches. With experience at traditional clubs such as Flamengo and Vasco, the commander, despite being only 43 years old, has already dealt with pressure on other occasions.

Barbieri is a much more tested and experienced coach than Lucho González, Martín Varini, Wesley Carvalho and Paulo Turra, to name some of Furacão’s bets in recent years. Also for this reason, the red and black fans had divided reactions regarding the name of the new commander.

In this context, Athletico’s choice also goes towards fewer changes in the position. The club is known for being a coach grinder, but knows that the changes in command culminated in the fall to Serie B. With Barbieri, the bet made is also on greater stability.

What is the profile of Barbieri, who irritated Vasco fans

Studious, as shown by his training in Sports Sciences from the University of São Paulo (USP), and calm, without many controversies in his career, Maurício Barbieri arrives at Athletico.

The coach is recognized for promoting a balanced locker room without major problems. The coach did not go through a layoff, as happened with midfielder Nikão, for example, and is generally praised by former players for his relationship.

Furthermore, he practically does not get involved in controversies. One happened in 2023, when he was at Vasco and had lost to Santos. In the post-game interview, he said that the São Paulo team had never been relegated and was “used to playing in the elite”, which caused the Rio locals’ irritation.

However, Barbieri made a point of apologizing. “I chose my words poorly and caused discomfort among the fans, the club’s greatest asset. I want to apologize. I want to reinforce the feeling of privilege I have for defending this shirt, this history and this shield”, he declared afterwards.

Bragantino’s success and vice against Athletico

The greatest work of Maurício Barbieri’s career was at Red Bull Bragantino. With more stability, the coach completed two years and one month with the São Paulo team.

There were 151 games in total, with 58 wins, 45 draws and 48 defeats, resulting in a 48.6% success rate.

Barbieri became Brazil’s longest-serving coach and led Massa Bruta to the final of the 2021 Copa Sudamericana, in which they lost precisely to Athletico.

Barbieri was notable for having had good campaigns in the Brasileirão. When he arrived, in 2020, he took the team out of the fight against relegation. In 2021, the team finished in 6th place and won a place in the Libertadores.

In the last season at the club, however, the coach saw his performance drop significantly and ended up being fired after a 6-0 defeat against Fortaleza.

Features

It is worth remembering that Athletico will play in Série B with only one rival who was also a continental champion: Chapecoense. In other words, the tendency is for the teams to be well positioned defensively and for Furacão to propose the game.

In that regard, one of Barbieri’s strengths is his offensive repertoirean element that has been lost since Lucho was announced in Furacão.

At Bragantino, the coach used variations between 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3, with a midfielder and two midfielders, as well as two wingers who were generally sharp and open. The coach encourages individual play and tries to create combinations to synchronize movements.

At Vasco, the same thing happened, but it didn’t work. Due to a lack of creative midfielders, the coach ended up using three midfielders in several matches, which did not prevent defensive vulnerability. In the end, the team left something to be desired and Barbieri ended up being fired.

The experience serves as a warning. This is because the lack of technical quality and also the physical issue are two fundamental factors that directly impact this style of play. It is worth remembering that Bragantino had players like midfielder Claudinho, wanted by Flamengo, and striker Artur, ex-Palmeiras, who are teammates at Zenit, in Russia.

Therefore, there are two aspects that Athletico needs to pay attention to. However, the presence of midfielder João Cruz could be one of the weapons of Barbieri’s likely starting team.

Furthermore, when building the game, Barbieri alternates the defensive line. One resource is to move the steering wheel back to place yourself between the defensive duo, freeing up the full-backs more. What is non-negotiable is post-loss pressure. The team attacks the ball and tries to recover it in the attacking field or create a mistake on the part of the opponent.

Despite this, Athletico’s pre-season should be focused on defining the squad, which is still full of uncertainty, and getting the athletes back up to speed for the start of the Paranaense Championship.

The re-presentation is scheduled for December 26th, Thursday. Furacão opens the 2025 season in the classic against Paraná Clube on January 11th, Saturday, at 4pm, at the Ligga Arena, in Curitiba.

“I always try for my teams to be protagonists of the game, to have initiative and look for the opponent’s goal. To be purposeful. Also to be very cohesive. But I think the most important thing is to rescue Athletico’s game culture”, said Barbieri in interview on the club’s official website.

“Recovering a way of playing. Intensity and verticality, which have always been very important hallmarks of this club. I understand that in recent years it (culture) has not been very present and I think it will be fundamental to have a winning year to rescue the Athletico game”, he added.