The 33-year-old defender Douglas Bacelar is one of the leaders of the Avaí team. The player joined the Santa Catarina club in the middle of last year, secured a spot in the starting lineup, and wore the captain’s armband on several occasions. However, this good phase of the experienced defender almost did not exist.
In 2022, Bacelar was close to joining the Leão, but a myocarditis – inflammation in the heart that results in infections in the body, causing symptoms such as chest pain or dizziness.
“Life throws us many surprises. I discovered myocarditis while undergoing tests at Avaí itself, and it was a difficult period, but I wanted to take care of myself. It’s a complicated moment when a lot of things go through our minds. I live for football; it’s my job, and besides that, it’s what I love to do. When I received the news, it was a big blow, but I had the help of Avaí’s doctors and was able to recover. It’s difficult to live with uncertainty, but thanks to God, it passed,” said Douglas.
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Undergoing treatment with medication and medical monitoring, Douglas was unable to train for nine months. The entire recovery was done with his own financial resources.
“I spent nine months without engaging in high-intensity activities; I couldn’t do anything that would increase my heart rate. Of course, I was very scared at the time. As I said, with football, I have my livelihood and make my living. The entire recovery was on my own since I didn’t have a contract with any club. Today I am 100% recovered and was able to have the happiness of helping my club in this away game. It had been a while since I had the pleasure of scoring a goal. I am very happy,” the player said.
Douglas Bacelar was born in São Paulo but was revealed by Juventude, from Rio Grande do Sul. In addition to the São Paulo club, the defender played for América-RN, Dnipro-UCR, Giresunspor-TUR, Inter de Limeira, and Chapecoense, the club with the most games in his career (100).
However, it was at Vasco da Gama that Douglas experienced his best phase in Brazil. In total, he played 48 games for the cruzmaltino team, won the Copa do Brasil 2011, and finished as runner-up in the 2012 Brasileirão. His good performance at the Rio de Janeiro team led to his transfer to Dnipro at the beginning of 2013.
In three years at the Eastern European team, the player was the runner-up of the 2014/2015 Europa League. Furthermore, he was the athlete who played the most among all teams in the competition and also made it into the tournament’s selection.
