World Cup 2018: Manchester City ace Fernandinho blamed for Brazil’s World Cup exit – because of his SHIRT NUMBER
The Citizens midfielder has been lambasted by the Brazilian media after Tite's side lost 2-1 to Belgium in the quarter-final
MANCHESTER CITY ace Fernandinho has copped the flak for Brazil’s World Cup exit - because of his SHIRT NUMBER.
While the broken Brazilian players spoke of a “horrible night” which felt “like a death in our family”, there was little sympathy for the Etihad midfielder for his own goal in Kazan.
Instead, Brazil’s main sports daily Lance lambasted Fernandinho for everything in his display - blaming his squad number for sowing seeds of doubt.
Lance wrote: “Tite’s priority was for the players to wear the numbers they do at their clubs.
“But it was unfeasible for Fernandinho, who wears 25 at Manchester City.
“So he was given 17. But that meant he literally had on his back the result of the historic defeat to Germany in 2014, when he was one of the worst on the pitch.
“And so against Belgium he was marked again by a horrible performance, part of Brazil’s frustration in the search for a sixth world title.”
The stick continued, with Fernandinho’s early own goal branded “absurd” and “inexplicable” and which “directly affected the performance of Tite's men”.
Fernandinho was accused “of missing everything he tried”, with surprise that he lasted the entire 90 minutes after being hooked at half-time in Belo Horizonte four years ago, when Brazil trailed 5-0.
The attack finished: “Fernandinho already had to live with his memories of that Germany game.
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“Now, to his sadness and that of every Brazilian, he has one more episode that he would like to forget with the Selecao shirt at a World Cup.”
The downcast mood which swept the nation was reflected in the Brazil dressing room, although it is expected that Tite will be given the green light to stay on for the next World Cup cycle despite the grievous blow.
Inter Milan centre-back Miranda, Brazil’s skipper in Kazan, lamented: “Our dream is over. We are responsible for the feelings of millions of people and we have left them sad.
“That is not what we wanted. We entered the field to win but could not do it.
“Belgium were better in the key moments. We tried, we fought to the end and we leave with our heads held high.
“We did everything we were supposed to do. But when you are behind, you force passes a bit and make mistakes.”
Real Madrid defender Marcelo added: “It hurts. It was a horrible night and there is no explanation.
“Sometimes football is unfair. We’ve created a family and maybe we wanted to reach the Final too much.”
And substitute Renato Augusto, whose late header was not enough for Brazil to claw the game back and take it to extra-time, said: “It is terrible. It feels like a death in the family, because we all dreamed of winning the World Cup.”