Renato: "Inter favourite? Only because they have more money than us. But I know how to neutralise them tactically"
Renato Portaluppi, simply Renato Gaucho in his homeland, is a memory of the Roman nights of the 1980s: in the Capital, never missed in yellow and red , they remember him more for that than for his goals, and the nickname "pube de oro" certainly did not come by chance. Now Renato in his Brazil has become a sort of saint of the bench, and after having won the Libertadores with Gremio, for a few months he has returned as coach of a combative and expert Fluminense, who is waiting at the pass for Inter .
His brash style has remained the same as when he was a boy, a pre-match press conference spent saying catchphrases is enough to realize it: “We know how strong the Europeans are, but this is only on paper… Many say that they are the favorites, but on the pitch something different can happen…”, he winked at Italian and Brazilian journalists in the conference room of the Bank of America Stadium, home of Charlotte FC and the Carolina Panthers of the NFL. “Attitude is fundamental in such an important match. But the fact that a team like Inter is the favorite depends above all on economic reasons: if you go to the market with 1000 reais, you can buy whatever you want, if you go with 100 you have less choice. It's a bit like what happens in football, Europe has 1000 reais, we have 100… But everything will depend on the minds of the players…”. And then, inside the challenge against the Nerazzurri that also “ruined” his day of rest: “We know the quality of Inter and we cannot deny it: we have studied them well to neutralize them tactically and we are ready. Just think that to analyze this match I stayed in the hotel and my daughter Carolina scolded me because I didn't go out to dinner with her…”.
Renato has recovered striker Soltedo, available after injury, and his totem Thiago Silva, ready to take back his place in the heart of the defense: “Thiago is a key player in my scheme. He is a leader, the team captain, practically a coach on the pitch. He is a security guard for us back there”. In general, he wanted to make it clear that his Flu will not change, he will remain faithful to a Brazilian but practical style, despite the lineage of his rival: “We always train to restart with the ball from the back, I talk a lot with the defense about this aspect. I like ball possession and I like to continue playing. But I want to be very clear: if you are under pressure, there is no point in playing too 'bonito' because if you lose the ball, it's over. My philosophy is no risk and maximum concentration: if they score, it must be thanks to them, not our mistakes”. From there came the imaginative example, just to hit the interlocutor: “Many of my players are fathers,” continued the Brazilian coach. “So I ask them: ‘You walk through the mall with your one-and-a-half-year-old son and turn your back on him?’. Nobody does that… It’s the exact same thing in a football match. If you’re not focused, something bad will happen.” According to him, the risk of a lightning storm, which led to the suspension of Benfica-Chelsea, scares Chivu more than him: “Nature is nature, I can’t fight it. And these are the rules. In Brazil we play in the rain, in lightning, in everything. Here, if lightning strikes 10 km away, we stop… But, if the match is interrupted, the most important thing is to stay on track.”
Finally, there was a bit of a nod. The 62-year-old Brazilian coach spoke about his past at Roma, peppering it all with a few regrets: “It didn’t go very well in the Giallorossi. I had a three-year contract and in the first year I had a lot of injuries. My president was Dino Viola and he said that it was always like this with foreign players: you needed time to adapt. But then Flamengo approached me and I returned to Brazil because I wasn’t happy, I wanted to play. Today, with my experience, I probably wouldn’t have gone back because I just needed time: it was a different kind of football, a different culture, a new language”.
La Gazzetta dello Sport
