Duvier Riascos, or, as I like to call him, Fiascos. He missed a penalty for Tijuana against Atlético in 2013 that would knock them out of the Libertadores, which they eventually won, with the penalty being the peak moment. Now, Riascos wasn’t a great player, but you could see a club signing him if there weren’t many options available. But you wouldn’t expect Atlético’s greatest rivals signing a player so decisive in their continental run less than 2 years later. The only way for Riascos to be a good signing would be if he became one of Cruzeiro’s all-time greats, which he clearly wouldn’t be. And I’m only talking about the signing here. He was terrible for the club, left with only 1 goal (ironically, against Atlético), and eventually even cursed the team on a live interview.
Fast forward to 2023
After 3 years of struggle in the 2nd tier, Cruzeiro finally returned to the Brazilian First Division, but are struggling to keep their place in the elite, now occupying the first spot in the league relegation zone. The problem is simple: the team can’t score. Really, it’s been almost the full season and the team probably has more matches played than goals scored, not to mention not winning at home, but that’s a different story. The defense is solid, the team creates many opportunities every match (like 15 attempts or more) and misses 2 or 3 unbelievable goals. That’s not an exaggeration, that happens every single match.
The board (now led by Fat Ronaldo, the Brazilian legend) signed Henrique Dourado. Now, this guy has been incredibly bad for years. If I’m not mistaken, he had a good amount of goals in the 2015 League for Palmeiras, but most were penalties (he’s a world class penalty taker, I’ll give him that). Even Palmeiras’s fans didn’t like him much. Now, his numbers granted him a spot in major clubs in Brazil and eventually in China, but he failed to make a kind of name for himself at every single step. The guy can’t score if the ball isn’t on the 11-meter spot. And, as you can imagine, having had chances to play where he did, he isn’t cheap. So his signing was tragic. Everybody knew it, particularly when the team needed urgently someone with a positive record of scoring. “Hey, maybe the club will do him good”. Well… Thing is, he had already played for Cruzeiro a few years prior, and scored like 1 goal. He also didn’t do anything special that made him a character to the club or a dear figure to the fans. His peak with Cruzeiro was in like his 2nd match this year: there was a penalty and he wanted to take it so bad that he got into a heated argument with the team’s official taker, Bruno Rodrigues. They had to be kept apart by their teammates. Eventually, a destabilized Bruno missed the shot and Cruzeiro lost
But wait, there’s more! As you’ve read here, Cruzeiro consistently creates chances. Creative and skillful players aren’t the major problem and there are already many names for these roles. So what does Ronaldo do? Well, he also owns Real Valladolid. Valladolid has been kind of a yo-yo club in Spain and are trying to get a firmer grip at a La Liga place. They’re currently in the Spanish 2nd division. Some time ago, Valladolid signed Paulo Vitor, an unimpressive winger who failed to start for the club’s main squad and only played for the B team. He eventually was loaned out to Portuguese sides. In Portugal, PV amassed an impressive 1 goal in 25 matches. In his 6th year as a pro, he has enviable 5 goals for main squads plus 9 for Valladolid B. So Ronaldo didn’t think twice and brought him to Cruzeiro to continue on his glorious path and save the team from relegation.
Cruzeiro fan here. I have 3 names
Duvier Riascos, or, as I like to call him, Fiascos. He missed a penalty for Tijuana against Atlético in 2013 that would knock them out of the Libertadores, which they eventually won, with the penalty being the peak moment. Now, Riascos wasn’t a great player, but you could see a club signing him if there weren’t many options available. But you wouldn’t expect Atlético’s greatest rivals signing a player so decisive in their continental run less than 2 years later. The only way for Riascos to be a good signing would be if he became one of Cruzeiro’s all-time greats, which he clearly wouldn’t be. And I’m only talking about the signing here. He was terrible for the club, left with only 1 goal (ironically, against Atlético), and eventually even cursed the team on a live interview.
Fast forward to 2023
After 3 years of struggle in the 2nd tier, Cruzeiro finally returned to the Brazilian First Division, but are struggling to keep their place in the elite, now occupying the first spot in the league relegation zone. The problem is simple: the team can’t score. Really, it’s been almost the full season and the team probably has more matches played than goals scored, not to mention not winning at home, but that’s a different story. The defense is solid, the team creates many opportunities every match (like 15 attempts or more) and misses 2 or 3 unbelievable goals. That’s not an exaggeration, that happens every single match.
The board (now led by Fat Ronaldo, the Brazilian legend) signed Henrique Dourado. Now, this guy has been incredibly bad for years. If I’m not mistaken, he had a good amount of goals in the 2015 League for Palmeiras, but most were penalties (he’s a world class penalty taker, I’ll give him that). Even Palmeiras’s fans didn’t like him much. Now, his numbers granted him a spot in major clubs in Brazil and eventually in China, but he failed to make a kind of name for himself at every single step. The guy can’t score if the ball isn’t on the 11-meter spot. And, as you can imagine, having had chances to play where he did, he isn’t cheap. So his signing was tragic. Everybody knew it, particularly when the team needed urgently someone with a positive record of scoring. “Hey, maybe the club will do him good”. Well… Thing is, he had already played for Cruzeiro a few years prior, and scored like 1 goal. He also didn’t do anything special that made him a character to the club or a dear figure to the fans. His peak with Cruzeiro was in like his 2nd match this year: there was a penalty and he wanted to take it so bad that he got into a heated argument with the team’s official taker, Bruno Rodrigues. They had to be kept apart by their teammates. Eventually, a destabilized Bruno missed the shot and Cruzeiro lost
But wait, there’s more! As you’ve read here, Cruzeiro consistently creates chances. Creative and skillful players aren’t the major problem and there are already many names for these roles. So what does Ronaldo do? Well, he also owns Real Valladolid. Valladolid has been kind of a yo-yo club in Spain and are trying to get a firmer grip at a La Liga place. They’re currently in the Spanish 2nd division. Some time ago, Valladolid signed Paulo Vitor, an unimpressive winger who failed to start for the club’s main squad and only played for the B team. He eventually was loaned out to Portuguese sides. In Portugal, PV amassed an impressive 1 goal in 25 matches. In his 6th year as a pro, he has enviable 5 goals for main squads plus 9 for Valladolid B. So Ronaldo didn’t think twice and brought him to Cruzeiro to continue on his glorious path and save the team from relegation.