João Paulo unveiled at Bahia, heaps praise on former Santos rival | OneFootball

Goalkeeper João Paulo gave his first press conference as a Bahia player this Monday, at Arena Fonte Nova. Introduced as the new number 34 of Tricolor de Aço, he took the opportunity to praise his former teammate at Santos, Gabriel Brazão.

“Brazão is a big goalkeeper, he's on the pre-call list for the national team, it's no coincidence. A very young boy who left Brazil early and matured a lot when he returned to Santos last year. I was able to help him a lot. So, this rivalry that we ended up creating in training, it made me rekindle that flame of wanting to win, especially within Santos. I didn't have many opportunities on the field, that's why I chose and thought it would be time to look for new horizons”, he commented to the press.

João Paulo arrives at Bahia with the mission of solving the instability in the tricolor goal, after a sequence of mistakes that resulted, including, in the departure of Marcos Felipe from the club. The 30-year-old goalkeeper will now compete for a position with experienced Danilo Fernandes and Ronaldo, the current starter of the team commanded by Rogério Ceni.

Despite the pressure due to the delicate moment of the sector, João Paulo highlighted the quality of his position companions, emphasizing that the main challenge has been confidence.

“I've just arrived to work with them and from what I've seen, they're goalkeepers with a lot of quality, but they lacked a bit of confidence. In the last games, Ronaldo was able to help Bahia win,” he said.

João Paulo will be able to defend Bahia's jersey as soon as his contract is registered in the Brazilian Football Confederation's (CBF) Daily Information Bulletin (BID). Rogério Ceni's team returns to the field this Thursday, at 19:30 (Brasília time), when they host Fluminense, at Arena Fonte Nova, for the first leg of the Copa do Brasil quarterfinals.

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