Luxembourg returns to Corinthians as an emergency solution – 05/01/2023 – Sport

Corinthians urgently needed a coach. A well-known name, who could control the squad and who would immediately take charge. After dreaming of Tite, trying Mano Menezes, giving up on Roger Machado and receiving dozens of nominations, president Duilio Monteiro Alves chose Vanderlei Luxemburgo, 70.

He should already be the coach when the team takes the field this Tuesday (2) to face Independiente del Valle-EQU, for the third round of the Libertadores group stage. After debuting with a victory over Liverpool-URU, Corinthians was defeated, at Neo Química Arena, by Argentinos Juniors-ARG.

The negotiation between the board and Luxemburgo was quick and he did not make many demands. Out of the market since 2021, when he directed Cruzeiro, the coach has rejected polls since then waiting for the opportunity to return to a great club in Brazilian football.

It will be his third spell at Corinthians. In the first, he was Brazilian champion in 1998. He won Paulista in 2001 in the last one.

The choice was not unanimous. More than one person close to the president expressed doubt whether Luxemburgo was the right name, but the view that always prevailed was the need to get a name quickly to try to overcome the crisis in the football department. He will be Corinthians’ fourth coach in 2023.

The team started the year with Fernando Lázaro, 39. A member of the coaching staff, he had no previous experience in the position. It was a homemade response after the departure of the Portuguese Vítor Pereira, but it did not work. The directors were alarmed by the results and returned him to his previous job on the last 20th. The possibility of elimination in the Copa do Brasil and Libertadores weighed.

The substitute was Cuca. He was seen as someone who could shock the squad, bring out the best in players and take away medals from the starting lineup. It lasted less than two weeks. The case in which he was convicted of sexual harassment in 1987 in Switzerland, when he was a Grêmio midfielder, has come back to haunt him. Duilio was under a lot of pressure, but he resisted until last week, when Corinthians, on penalties, eliminated Remo for the Copa do Brasil. In the locker room after qualifying, Cuca resigned.

There were regrets on the board that the choice had not fallen on Dorival Júnior, who ended up signing with São Paulo and was free on the market until then.

In the classic against Palmeiras, last Saturday (29), Danilo, a former world champion midfielder for the club, was on the bench. Corinthians was defeated by 2 to 1. The technician’s work, in difficult conditions, was praised. This despite the fact that the rival dominated almost the entire match. But, in the end, the alvinegro could have tied.

The search for a definitive coach was inglorious. When Fernando Lázaro was still in office, Duilio tried Tite. He did it again when the pressure on Cuca became unbearable. Both times, he heard the same answer. The professional who led the Brazilian team in the last two World Cups wants to work in Europe and does not intend to accept any offer in Brazil.

The next name was Mano Menezes. Champion of São Paulo and the 2009 Copa do Brasil for the association, he listened to what Corinthians had to say, but preferred to remain at Internacional.

The club considered going after a foreigner, but even that was not unanimous in the view that the only one who could please everyone, the Portuguese Jorge Jesus, would be unfeasible. Argentines like Rubén Darío Insúa, currently at San Lorenzo-ARG, were offered by agents. He got to talk to Roger Machado, currently unemployed, but gave up.

For advisors allied with Duilio, the view prevailed that Luxembourg is potentially the ideal solution. It can stabilize the boat at a critical moment in the season and, if it doesn’t work out, Corinhtians buys time to settle with another name in the future.

One of the concerns was to find out how the accusation of violent indecent assault against a manicurist turned out when he was coach of Palmeiras, in 1996. She also accused him of sexual harassment. But Luxemburgo was acquitted by Justice the following year.