Guga, the top scorer | OneFootball

Guilherme Guarche, from the Memory Center

In collaboration with Wesley Miranda, from Assophis.

Born on June 14, 1964, a Sunday, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Rio native Alexandre da Silva, known as Guga, turns 62 today. Living on the beautiful Ilha Grande, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Guga gives sightseeing tours on his schooner, called Pavarotti, and reminds everyone who comes aboard of the great moments of his career, especially at Santos Futebol Clube. After all, Jacqueline’s husband, father of Thainara, Thaiane, and Thaian, and grandfather of Catarina and Maya has a lot of stories to tell.

Signed at the end of 1991 from Internacional de Limeira, Guga arrived promising to be the new top scorer at Vila Belmiro. With fellow goal scorer Paulinho McLaren, owner of the number 9 shirt, the newly arrived player was given the legendary number 10.

Coach Rubens Minelli’s dream was to field in the same team two of the biggest scorers of 1991: Paulinho McLaren, top scorer of the Brazilian Championship with 15 goals, and Guga, who came from Inter de Limeira, where he was runner-up top scorer in the Paulista Championship with 18.

But with technical and physical characteristics that were almost identical, it was difficult for the two to play together, although, when needed, Guga would come off the bench to score his goals and provide assists.

With McLaren’s departure to Porto in Portugal, Guga inherited the number 9 shirt and became the focal point of the attack. With timely help from right back Índio and right winger Almir, the striker managed to fulfill what he had promised: to be the new top scorer at Vila Belmiro.

With excellent positioning, great leaping ability, and outstanding heading skills—one of the best to ever wear the sacred shirt—Guga scored many headers. Altogether, between 1992 and 1994, he scored 74 goals in 156 matches and was the top scorer of the 1993 Brazilian Championship with 14 goals, an achievement that earned him the Placar Silver Ball and the Charles Miller Award. When he left Vila, he went to play for Botafogo FR.

The top scorer against Corinthians after the Pelé era, it was against that rival that Guga etched his name into Santos history and into the hearts of the fans, scoring eight goals and earning three wins against his biggest victim.

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