Felipão and Abel’s enduring bond celebrated with wine, churrasco and a TV special | OneFootball

Luiz Felipe Scolari and Abel Braga, icons of Grêmio and Inter and now club directors, share an almost 50-year friendship that thrives over wine and churrasco away from the touchline.

According to Globo.com, their bond is the focus of a special to air on RBS TV on Friday night, after Big Brother Brasil. Daily material will also run on ge.globo and GZH.

They say their regular rendezvous is Barranco, a traditional Porto Alegre restaurant, where they always take the same table. Meals there are long, conversational and unhurried.

Both are enthusiastic wine drinkers. During his Palmeiras stint, Scolari would present rival staff with a club-branded bottle.

Abel’s appreciation has been widely noted, even stirring debate during his Flamengo tenure over a so-called wine club, which he has long treated light-heartedly. He says wine is the only drink he truly enjoys and links it to his Portuguese roots.

The meet-ups continue when they decamp from Porto Alegre to Atlântida on the Gaúcho coast. Last year, former Inter presidents Fernando Carvalho, Giovanni Luigi and Marcelo Medeiros and ex-forward Rafael Sobis gathered to welcome Abel. The Inter technical director urged that Scolari be invited, prompting a call he first thought was from Abel Ferreira, a former player of his with Portugal.

He went, found a table full of Inter figures and was greeted with a standing ovation. The special is presented by Alice Bastos Neves, with contributions from ex-Grêmio midfielder Carlos Miguel and former Inter president Fernando Carvalho.

Source: Globo.com