Ceará claim derby win with five Cidade Vozão graduates on the pitch | OneFootball

Gabriel Silva / Ceará SC

In the 2-1 victory over Fortaleza last Sunday, the 17th, in Brazil’s Serie B, Ceará finished the match with five players developed at Cidade Vozão. In addition to starters João Gabriel and Melk, Enzo Lodovico, Giulio, Pedro Gilmar, and Sanchez — promoted to the club’s first team in 2015 — came on and helped secure the win.

Melk was the standout player of the match, contributing to the first goal and providing the assist for the second. The goal scored by Melk also involved three of the five players. In the move, João Gabriel played the ball to Enzo Lodovico, who passed it to Melk to finish neatly into the corner.

Head coach Mozart, in the post-match press conference, praised the performances of the academy players and commended the club’s work in developing young talent.

“We finished the derby with five players developed here at the club. For the first goal, it was basically scored by players developed at the club: João, Enzo, and Melk. So I also want to take this moment to highlight the development work done at this club. I’m really inheriting a very good setup from the academy. Alison, who is with us today, really coached these boys. They have a great understanding of what to do on the pitch. And one thing they are bringing us, coming up from the academy to the first team, is a sense of belonging,” said Mozart.

For the Clássico-Rei, the head coach of the Most Beloved included nine academy players in the squad, accounting for 39% of those called up. Besides those who took the field, Gustavo Martins, Kauã Ziegler, Pedro Gilmar, and Pedro Esli, all recently promoted to the first team, were options on the bench.

“The fact that we had nine academy players called up for a Clássico-Rei is the crowning achievement of a plan that began in 2019 and confirms the excellent work being done in the youth ranks. It is also important to congratulate everyone involved in the day-to-day work at Cidade Vozão,” highlighted the Youth Academy Director, Israel Portela.

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