dispute for Lelê intensifies rivalry between vascaínos and tricolors

The dispute for the football of the lively Leanderson da Silva Genésio, the 25-year-old Lelê, top scorer of the State of Rio with nine goals in nine games with the shirt of Volta Redonda is just one more chapter of the cold war waged between Vasco and Fluminense.

Conflict that started with the tricolor occupation of the southern sector of the Maracanã ring in 2017, intensified in the confusing backstage of the stadium’s provisional bidding process.

A pitiful amateurism.

It is the strategy of Mário Bittencourt, president of Fluminense, to make the club the second great force in football in Rio, as in the 60s and 70s.

No wonder, in that cut, the Fla-Flu duo won 19 state titles out of the 25 that were played between 1963 and 86.

In the period, Vasco took three, Botafogo two and Bangu one.

Prestige recovered by Vasco from the mid-80s, when the now deceased Eurico Miranda took over Vasco football.

The top hat took to the lawns the dispute for the predominant role in the regattas, and returned to football in Rio the polarization between Vasco da Gama and Red-Black.

And not just in football or rowing, but in basketball, volleyball and in all categories of sports in which the two clubs were represented.

Something that was lost with Vasco’s economic crisis at the turn of the century.

With the arrival of Bitencourt to power in Laranjeiras and the serious health problems that led to Eurico Miranda’s death, the alliance between tricolors and rubro-negros became interesting for both clubs, at least in regional matters.

And hence the political and commercial conflicts that today permeate the relationship between tricolors and Vasco da Gama.

A dispute that ranges from the right to use the Maracanã to interest in Lelê, the top scorer who blooms at the age of 26.

It’s a very small cause to deserve so many lines, but the investigation shows that Abel Braga had agreed with Flávio Paraense, his former defender partner at Fluminense in the 70s, to acquire the striker on loan.

Flávio is responsible for football at Itaboraí Profute, in the B2 Series in Rio, and he agreed that he would transfer the player as soon as his loan to Volta Redonda ended, after the State.

It turns out that Lelê handed over the representation of his interests to agent Márcio Bittencourt, who gave another direction to the goalscorer’s career.

The agent, coincidentally representing Pedro Raul, the Vasco top scorer, found it more advantageous to place the new client in the club that will compete in the Libertadores.

And thus ended up putting another pinch of pepper in the already troubled relationship between the directors of the two clubs.

CAPTION / CREDIT:

Photo: Lelê, the top scorer for State of Rio, followed his manager’s advice and opted to play for Fluminense – Press Release / Volta Redonda