The technician Martin Varinido Athletico,denied that the substitutions made caused the 2-1 defeat to Juventude. The Uruguayan justified the departure of midfielder João Cruz, the team’s best player in the game and who was substituted 11 minutes into the second half, and stated that it is difficult to explain the stumble.
“You can always analyze what happens afterwards. Julimar, João Cruz and Nikão were all playing great games. In the specific case of João, he’s a kid who, up until we got here, didn’t have many minutes.. The choice was due to fatigue, I saw him getting flustered on the laps, and I didn’t want to leave him on the field to die there.“, said Varini.
The coach heaped praise on the promising young player from Furacão’s youth ranks. At 18 years old, João Cruz has a release clause of R$333 million and is enjoying an unprecedented run in the main team.
Considered one of the club’s most promising players, Cruz brought dynamism to the midfield and, alongside Zapelli, was important in creating offensive plays. To top it off, João Cruz was named in the Brazilian under-20 squad this weekend.
Varini followed the physical aspect to justify the changes and also highlighted that João Cruz was replaced by Christian, who has been one of the best players on the team in recent games.
“[Ele] I had hardly played and that requires an adaptation process. I know this process well, I’ve been doing it for over a year. I’m very happy that he’s in the Brazilian under-20 team because of the sequence he’s been having with us. But he’s a guy who’s been playing three games in a row at a very high level and he has to adapt to that too,” added the coach.
With João Cruz among those involved, Athletico is preparing to face Belgrano, from Argentina, in the second leg of the round of 16 of the Copa Sudamericana. The duel is scheduled for next Thursday (23), at 7 pm, in Córdoba.
Athletico has a negative sequence in the Brazilian Championship
Varini lamented the sequence of four consecutive defeats as home team in the Brasileirão. Counting the draws against Flamengo and Corinthians, there are six consecutive stumbles inside the Ligga Arena.
With this negative sequence, Athletico has distanced itself from the fight for a place in the Libertadores next year. With 28 points, the red-black team is nine points behind Bahia and São Paulo, who occupy fifth and sixth place, respectively.
The bad moment contrasts with regular performances and classifications in the Copa do Brasil and the South American.
“It’s a difficult game to explain why we lost. As I always say after a defeat, I take full responsibility. We want to win the Brasileirão, move up in the table and win at home. Sometimes things don’t happen and that’s football. If they want to find someone to blame or reasons why the game was lost, they can find many. But the team kept going, until their goal it was a very good game. They barely had a shot on goal,” said Varini.