Just a couple of months past his 17th birthday, Rodrygo is the youngest player to have appeared for Santos in the Copa Libertadores – a proud boast since this is the club that produced Pele, Robinho and Neymar. And Gabriel Barbosa.
Barbosa, or Gabigol as he is known in Brazil, has found it hard to live up to his illustrious predecessors. He was part of the Brazil team that won gold at the Rio Olympics, and was at that point competing with Gabriel Jesus to be the centre-forward of the national team. But he moved to Inter, where he made no impression, and also failed to impress a loan spell at Benfica.
He is now rebuilding his career back at Santos – and on Thursday night he gave an example of why he has so far not lived up to expectations. Santos were 1-0 ahead at home to Nacional of Uruguay when, just before half-time, Gabriel Barbosa foolishly got himself sent off.
It was a crunch game for Santos. They lost their debut match. Failure to collect three points from this fixture would put them in serious trouble. And now they had to play the second half without their star striker.
Rodrygo to the rescue. He received on halfway, outpaced two defenders and slid the ball through the goalkeeper. It was as if, just over 24 hours after Barcelona's triumph over Chelsea, he had a Lionel Messi moment, while Nacional keeper Esteban Conde turned into Thibaut Courtois. Santos went on to win 3-1. And without Rodrygo the outcome may well have been different.
The previous day, another 17-year-old Brazilian proved even more decisive in the Libertadores. Flamengo were a goal down away to Emelec of Ecuador, and seemingly sliding to defeat. In last year’s competition they fell humiliatingly at the group stage, winning all their home matches but losing every away game. This year they started off with a 2-2 draw at home to River Plate – meaning that picking up away points was even more essential. But with Emelec looking for the kill, Flamengo were in real trouble – until they unleashed Vinicius Junior.
The youngster picked up global headlines last year when Real Madrid agreed to pay an extraordinary €45m for someone who had yet to make his senior debut. Could he really live up to that level of expectation? The early signs were inconclusive, but this year he has been better. The pace and the talent are clearly present. But he has often seemed in too much of a rush, wasting good opportunities with hasty, poor decision-making. It happened again on Wednesday night. The first time he was in space he blazed the ball across goal, neither a shot nor a cross. The same old problem – until he won the game for his side.
Normally Vinicius is used wide on the left, cutting inside onto his stronger right foot. This time, though, having made a note of the lack of pace of Emelec’s veteran left-back, Flamengo’s coach sent on Vinicius to play on the right. And he showed that, as well as electric pace, he also has a fine left foot. He used it to score two superb goals, both after cutting across and terrifying the home defence. Vinicius Junior kept Flamengo alive in the competition, and made headlines all over the world – especially in Madrid, where his arrival is being awaited with growing eagerness. As one local journalist put it, on Wednesday Vinicius stopped being ‘Junior.’ A new prince is born.
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Football, though, holds few guarantees. The likes of Vinicius and Rodrygo may enjoy smooth, step-by-step paths to global stardom. Alternatively, there may be bumps in the road – and both players need look no further than their own dressing room.
Rodrygo has the example of Gabriel Barbosa as a much hyped player who has yet to take his form into top level football. And Vinicius has Marlos Moreno.
Two years ago, Moreno was the teenager setting the Libertadores alight. The young Colombian forced his way into to the first team at Atletico Nacional towards the end of 2015. He was a vital part of their Colombian league triumph. Then, in the following year’s Libertadores, he gave show after show. He was exhilarating, scoring and combining, moving and thinking at pace, seeming to have more time than everyone around him. And he showed he was not overawed when he was fast-tracked into the Colombia side, quickly making and scoring goals.
Then came the move to Manchester City. Moreno left Colombia making all the right noises. He was ready for the challenge, and wanted to out-do even the feats of Faustino Asprilla on European fields. Last season he was loaned to Deportivo La Coruna, where he flickered without truly shining. This season he was loaned to Girona, who seemed to have no use for him. And so, towards the end of last year, the chance opened up for a loan move to Flamengo.
This had one big advantage. He would be reuniting with coach Reinaldo Rueda, a fellow Colombian who had been his boss at Atletico Nacional. But then Rueda was handed an offer to take charge of the Chile national team. He left, and replacement Paulo Cesar Carpegiani does not appear to be a fan.
Moreno made his Flamengo debut at the end of January, coming off the bench in a local derby against Vasco da Gama. He produced a moment of magic to put Vinicius through on goal. But the chance was missed – and Moreno has had few subsequent chances.
He was part of a reserve Flamengo side beaten 3-0 by Fluminense. Although he rattled the bar with a shot, he was taken off at half-time, seemingly blamed for the side being overrun in midfield. Finding himself well down the pecking order, his head may have dropped. For a while, everything was going right in the young career of Marlos Moreno. But for the last 18 months, everything has been going wrong.
The key test, of course, is how a young player handles adversity. That is the obstacle that Moreno is currently facing. In due time, Rodrygo and Vinicius will, in one form or another, run up against this most difficult of opponents. It could be injury, loss of form, a high-profile error, a loan spell to a club with no long-term interest in development, problems off the pitch or a coach who does not value their virtues. All of these problems have to be met head on and dribbled around – just as Rodrygo and Vinicius eluded their markers this week.
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