Vitor Roque’s beacon: Brazilian forwards who succeeded when they arrived

For better or worse, the history of football shows that there are no a priori absolute truths about the careers of football players. One of the mantras that is often repeated is that it always takes a long time for Brazilian stars to adapt to European football and even some of the most famous have never been able to do so. There are biographies that confirm this thesis and there are cases as paradigmatic as Didí’s, considered the best player in the 1958 World Cup alongside Pelé, who only lasted the 1958-59 season at Real Madrid before returning to his country, or of Roberto Dinamita, who returned to Brazil after playing 8 games for Barça 1980-81 to become one of Vasco da Gama’s greatest legends thanks to his 707 goals. However, there are also other positive examples about the luck that many offensive talents who recently arrived in the Old Continent had to succeed almost from day one. Now that scorer Vitor Roque is in the Barça locker room after stints at Cruzeiro and Athletico Paranaense, the encouraging experience of other compatriots can serve as a beacon to believe in confirming his potential soon. Some of them immediately shined wearing the FC Barcelona shirt. MD remembers some of their names.

EVARISTO DE MACEDO (1957-58)

17 goals in his first course culé

Between 1957 and 1962, Evaristo (1933) dazzled Camp Nou by playing 219 games and scoring 173 culé goals, the most famous of which was against Madrid to knock Real out of the European Cup for the first time . He came directly from Flamengo and the first thing he saw at Barça was Eulogio Martínez who scored 7 goals in one game. “Why did they bring me?” he asked. He himself gave the answer as soon as possible: his culé debut was in the 1957-58 season and he had already confirmed his class in the area. He scored 17 goals in 29 games (13 out of 24 in the League and 4 out of 5 in the Fairs Cup).

2

ROMARIO DA SOUZA (1988-89)

26 that appeared on the old continent

Romario Da Souza (1966) is one of PSV Eindhoven’s successful historical bets on the Brazilian market. The Vasco da Gama striker, who had just won Olympic gold in Seoul in 1988, signed for the Eindhoven club, where he scored for five seasons before signing for Barça in 1993. In Holland, he left his first year: he scored 26 goals and provided 6 assists in 34 games. They are 19 out of 24 in the Eredivisie, 4 out of 5 in the Cup and 3 out of 5 in the Champions League.

3

RONALDO NAZARIO (1994-95)

30 goals at 17 years old in the Eredivisie

Ronaldo Nazario (1976) has always been a scoring machine. From Cruzeiro, he arrived in Europe in the 1994-95 season with PSV and, at the age of 17, his calling card was scoring 30 goals in 33 games in the Eredivisie, before making his big leap to number 1 World Cup with the Barça shirt in 1996.

4

GIOVANNI SILVA (1996-97)

He said “hello” and contributed 12 goals

Undoubtedly overshadowed by the emergence of Ronaldo and his 47 goals in 49 games for Barça in the 1996-97 season, the signing of Giovani Silva direct from Pelé’s Santos also offers interesting early numbers for in the Barça team. In his gateway to Europe, the attacking midfielder contributed 12 goals in 43 games without being a forward-forward.

5

RIVALDO (1996-97)

22 goals starting with Riazor

Vítor Borba Ferreira Gomes ‘Rvaldo’ (1972) was another great scorer who was not even a typical ‘9’. Like those before him, he succeeded at Barça, but before that he confirmed everything he showed at Brazilian Palmeiras with the Deportivo de A Coruña shirt in the tremendous 1996-97 season. His first ‘European’ numbers were equally scandalous: 22 goals and 10 assists in 46 games (21 and 9 in 41 League games and 1 and 1 in 5 Cup games).

6

RONALDINHO (2001-02)

13 goals and 8 assists at PSG

Ronaldo de Assis Moreira ‘Ronaldinho’ (1980) made it to Europe with PSG in the 2001-02 season, after rising to prominence for Brazilian Gremio. Although his international breakthrough came in 2003 at Barça, his first numbers on this side of the pond are already promising: 13 goals and 8 assists in 40 games in his first year in Paris (9 goals and 8 assists in 28 game in the League French ).

7

NEYMAR DA SILVA (2013-14)

15 goals and 15 assists

Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior (1992) was introduced to the world as Pelé’s successor at Santos and made the jump to Europe in the 2013-14 campaign in a Barça shirt. His first season was more than statistically remarkable, with 15 goals and 15 assists in 41 games: 9 and 10 in 26 League games, 2 goals in 5 in Cup matches and 4 and 5 in 10 in the Champions League.

8

SONNY ANDERSON (1992-93)

20 goals in Swiss Servette

Although on a smaller scale than some of his compatriots, Sonny Anderson (1970) earned the nickname ‘Gunsman’ in early Europe, before breaking out in Monaco and joining Barça or Villarreal. The Brazilian hails from Guaraní when he made his European debut in a Servette shirt in the 1992-93 season, scoring 20 goals in 35 games that year.

9

JOSE ALTAFINI (1958-59)

28 goals as a debut in Milan

José Altafini (1938) was a legendary Italian-Brazilian striker who, after rising to prominence for Palmeiras, moved to Italy to sign for Milan. During his performance, 1958-59, he made it to the rocky Scudetto League, scoring 28 goals in 32 games.

10

ZICO (1983-84)

24 debut celebration

Arthur Antunes Coimbra ‘Zico’ (1953), the ‘White Pelé’, came to Europe after leaving Flamengo to lead mediocre Udinese in the Italian Seria A. The 10 of Brazil’s greats of the 80s, best remembered for his excellent football than ‘verdeamarela’ scores, left an impact in the first of his two seasons in Italy, 1983-84: 24 goals in 33 games (19 in 24 in the League and 5 in 9 in coppa).

Eleven

ANTONIO CARECA (1987-88)

18 celebrations in Maradona’s Naples

Antonio Careca (1960) came from Sao Paulo to San Paolo to participate as a co-star in the great Italian champion Naples under the command of Diego Armando Maradona. After scoring 115 goals in 191 games for the São Paulo club in his first season in ‘calcio’, 1987-88, the Brazilian forward contributed 18 goals in 34 games (13 in 26 in Liga and 5 in 7 in Coppa).

12

AUNT (1987-88)

Milton Queroz ‘Tita’ (1958) landed at Bayer Leverkusen at the end of the 80s from Vasco da Gama. The forward spent one season (1987-88) with the Bundesliga team that ended by winning the UEFA Cup in the final against Espanyol with impressive numbers: 22 goals in 37 official matches.

13

GIOVANE ELBER (1991-92)

55 in Grasshopper

Giovane Elber (1972) signed for Milan from mid-range Brazilian side Londrina when he was just 18 years old. It was 1991 and the foreigners in the Rossoneri team, which included Fabio Capello as coach, were none other than Marco van Basten, Rudd Gullit and Frank Rijkaard. Elber did not fit in and was loaned to the Swiss Grasshopper to move in 1991. There, scoring 55 goals in 78 games, he left traces of the instinct in the area that, years later, led him to success at Bayern Munich.

14

BABY (1992-93)

29 goals when it comes to Depor

Deportivo acquired the nickname Supedepor, among other reasons, following the signing of José Roberto Gama de Oliveira ‘Bebeto’ (1964). The former striker for Vitoria, Flamengo and Vasco da Gama landed at Riazor in the 1992-93 season and stayed in Galicia until 1996. In that first season, the Brazilian became a scoring cyclone: ​​29 goals in 38 games .

fifteen

MARIO JARDEL (1996-97)

35 goals and 7 assists

Mario Jardel (1973) has always lived up to his goalscoring promise since arriving in Europe in 1996 from Brazilian Gremio. Porto paid attention to his qualities and decided to include him from the first moment: in the 1996-97 season, the Brazilian center forward contributed 35 goals and 7 assists in 44 official matches. Among them, in the Portuguese League there were 30 goals and 7 assists in 31 games and in international competition he scored 4 goals in 8 games.

16

KAKA (2003-04)

10 own points and 11 dice

Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite ‘Kaká’ (1982) arrived in Milan in 2003 from Sao Paulo. At the San Siro he carved a path that led him to the Ballon d’Or and, in 2009, to Real Madrid. His first season as a ‘Rossonero’, without being a natural striker, he scored 10 goals and 11 assists in 43 games in the 2003-04 season.