Fluminense’s elimination from the Copa do Brasil at the hands of Juventude was marked by a notable incident involving Marcelo. The experienced left-back was brought on from the bench in an attempt to spark a comeback, but he had to leave the field just four minutes later due to injury.
With the Tricolor carioca trailing 1-0, the former Real Madrid player replaced Diogo Barbosa at 11 minutes and 23 seconds into the second half. Shortly after stepping onto the pitch, in his first involvement in the game, he felt pain while attempting a long-range shot.
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Marcelo tried to continue, but the discomfort was evident, and he was forced to be substituted at 16 minutes and 10 seconds of the second half. According to the official broadcast, the 36-year-old veteran defender headed straight to the Maracanã locker room for treatment.
The match ended in a 2-2 draw, which was not enough for Flu as Juventude had won 3-2 in the first leg of the round of 16.
Marcelo entrou no jogo, deu um chute a gol, se machucou e saiu de Fluminense x Juventude. pic.twitter.com/0eosfXkT93
— ge (@geglobo) August 8, 2024
In the post-match press conference, coach Mano Menezes couldn’t provide much detail about Marcelo’s injury, only stating that “he felt some muscle discomfort.”
“It’s bad, obviously it’s very bad to come into the game and have to leave after five minutes. The player suffers much more than anyone else. So, we lost a substitution, a player who I think could have contributed a lot at that moment with his quality in the internal game. We had Keno wide on the wing, so we needed someone to come inside for creativity, and Marcelo has that ability,” Menezes said.
At the end of May, Marcelo had been praised for his physical condition. Fernando Diniz, who was then the coach of Fluminense, even said that Marcelo seemed to have “rejuvenated by about three years.” At that time, he had played five full matches out of six possible and scored three goals in four games (against Cerro Porteño, Alianza Lima, and Juventude).
A month later, after being substituted in a loss to Grêmio, he entered a period of more than 20 days out due to muscle pain. After missing four matches, Marcelo returned against Palmeiras, playing less than 30 minutes.
Since then, Marcelo played as a midfielder for 45 minutes in the first leg against Juventude and was a substitute in the victory over Bahia in the Brasileirão.
