Samuel Lino responds to call-up criticism after month at Flamengo | OneFootball

Fans and part of the press found Samuel Lino's call-up premature

Flamengo officially announced the signing of Samuel Lino on July 29. On August 30, the forward was called up for the first time in his career. The short time span irritated fans of rival teams and part of the media, who deemed the call to the Brazilian National Team as unfair. However, the Flamengo winger made sure to defend himself, recalling the work done in Europe at his previous club.

“I think I already had a good trajectory. He (Ancelotti) knew me from Atlético de Madrid (ESP), we had many encounters there. But this arrival here at Flamengo, this month here, was just a boost for him to call me up,” said Samuel Lino in an interview with ‘O Globo’.

Samuel Lino has only nine games for Flamengo, with two goals and four assists. However, as highlighted by the forward, Brazil's coach, Carlo Ancelotti, has known him for a long time from when the Italian managed Real Madrid (ESP), and the forward played for Valencia (ESP) and Atlético de Madrid (ESP).

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE SAMUEL LINO AND ANCELOTTI FACED EACH OTHER?

The athlete won four times, Ancelotti came out on top in three others, and there were four draws. Additionally, Samuel Lino scored on two occasions with ‘Carleto’ as the opponent in these 11 encounters. In other words, the forward has given the Italian coach a hard time during his period at Real Madrid.

FIRST CHANCE WITH THE NATIONAL TEAM?

After not leaving the bench in Brazil's victory over Chile, Samuel Lino trained among the starters and is expected to debut this Tuesday (09), against Bolivia, at the altitude of El Alto, which is over 4,000 meters high. The match kicks off at 8:30 PM (Brasília time). Off the field, ‘Samu’ has already passed all the tests: “There was already some teasing from the guys, they made me sing, talk, joke around. But it was all good. I sang Fulminante, by Mumuzinho. The guys liked it. I did really well,” he joked.

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