Flamengo's Jorginho once tried to lure Martinelli away from Brazil | OneFootball

Gabriel Martinelli was the standout name in Brazil’s qualification

Decisive for Brazil in the win over Japan this Monday (29), in the World Cup Round of 32, Gabriel Martinelli almost ended up wearing the shirt of another national team. After all, the player has already revealed that he was advised by Jorginho, Flamengo midfielder, to play for Italy before establishing himself with the ‘Seleção’.

Wearing the Arsenal (ENG) shirt since 2019, Martinelli played alongside Jorginho for two and a half years, between January 2023 and June 2025. So, in 2024, the current Flamengo midfielder tried to convince the forward to represent Italy.

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What did Martinelli say about Flamengo’s Jorginho?

— Jorginho tried once, but I didn’t know him at the time, we only played against each other. Today (2024), the guy is playing with me. Football is like that — you play against someone, then the next day he’s already on your team — he said, before adding:

— He’s an unbelievable player who plays for Italy. But he also went to Italy early. He said he was going to wait for me on the national team, that they were still going to call us up, but I wasn’t going — Martinelli concluded in an interview with ‘TNT Sports’.

How did the Brazil vs Japan match go?

The Brazilian national team had a first half below expectations and saw Japan take the lead in the 29th minute through Kaishu Sano. As a result, Brazil went into halftime trailing on the scoreboard.

Needing to chase the result, Brazil came back for the second half with a different attitude. Casemiro leveled things in the 11th minute after a perfect cross from Gabriel Magalhães. Then, in the 50th minute, Bruno Guimarães found Martinelli inside the six-yard box, and the No. 22 secured the ‘Seleção’s’ qualification.

What is Jorginho’s situation at Flamengo?

At the moment, Jorginho is available to Flamengo for the mid-season training camp being held in Portugal. The midfielder, in fact, used the vacation period to recover from a fracture in his right foot, suffered in the 3-0 defeat to Palmeiras.

In addition to training sessions, Flamengo will play three friendlies during the mid-season period. Leonardo Jardim’s team will therefore face River Plate (ARG), Lausanne-Sport (SUI) and Benfica (POR).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.