Using Barcelona, ​​considered by many experts to be the best team in the world today, as an example, the art of football was the main theme discussed in the early evening of Tuesday (December 07.12th) at the VII Footecon lectures in Copacabana. Carlos Alberto Parreira, founder of the event, gave an analysis of the Catalan team and, afterwards, journalist André Rizek led a round table discussion with Zico, Dorival Junior and Vanderlei Luxemburgo.

One of the proponents of an offensive style of play, which he has been trying to implement at Flamengo, Luxa explained that football is about occupying space and that it's not difficult to get a talented midfielder to score. According to him, taking advantage of the quality of teams like the current Barcelona, ​​Santos from the first half of the year, the Brazilian National Team of 1970, and Flamengo of 1981 is fundamental.

"Today it's difficult to create a team with that characteristic. A midfielder, for example, other than Ganso in today's Brazilian football, is hard to find. It's easier to make a talented player defend than a bruiser play football. I prefer to teach talented players how to defend. The 1970 World Cup is a reference for me. That dynamic is ideal for football, as is that of Flamengo, world champions in 1981," said the coach, aware that carrying out a long-term project in Brazil, however, is complicated.

"Here in Brazil, it's difficult for a coach to maintain a project. I've experienced these difficulties myself, even with prestige. It's important to develop players, turn young players into professionals, and bring in experienced coaches. A talented football team is always very close to putting on a good performance. It's necessary to pay attention to the youth system, which is where these talented players come from, especially since it's difficult to sign top players nowadays," he explained.

Zico, one of the greatest talents in the history of Brazilian and world football, as well as a great idol in the history of Flamengo, also spoke about the subject and recalled the defeat to Italy in the 1982 World Cup as a landmark that was fundamental to the "end" of the beautiful game.

"The defeat of the national team in 1982 was a landmark. Italy, with a great team, won that game playing with a defensive style, against our beautiful football. We did a terrible disservice to football with that defeat (laughs). Their style worked better and from then on everyone thought that was the way to achieve results," he observed.

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Footecon continues on Wednesday (December 08.12th) with another great series of lectures at the Copacabana Palace Hotel. Also on Tuesday (December 07.12th), there will be lectures with the coach of the Brazilian under-20 national team, Ney Franco, as well as physiologist Paulo Figueiredo and psychologist Paulo Ribeiro, from Flamengo.

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